Last week the second three-year plan for Heritage Malta was unveiled.
Since its setting up a few years ago, Heritage Malta has been entrusted with the safeguarding of the cultural and historical treasures that dot these islands of ours. Although, relatively speaking, it is still a young organisation, it has so far carried out sterling work in this regard. The more experience it gains, the better the results will be.
Over the past months, The Malta Independent has carried regular features on the work that Heritage Malta has carried out and its plans for the future. No doubt, our readers have had a most comprehensive view of what has been going on and what will happen soon.
The three-year plan that has just been published gives a rather long list of projects that are to be taken in hand by Heritage Malta. Some are small projects, but others are important enough to attract national attention while they are being carried out and when they are completed.
No doubt, Heritage Malta’s biggest headache over the next months will be the construction of the visitors’ centre at the Mnajdra and Hagar Qim Temples with, more importantly, the project to cover these world heritage sites in order to protect them from the elements.
Over the years, sun, rain and wind have led to a deterioration of the stone structures and, added to this, man has unfortunately played his part in this as these temples have been the target of attacks from vandals. It has taken us quite some time to come up with a solution to afford better protection to these temples, but now that a decision has been taken in this regard, we can look forward to a better state of affairs.
The project will be co-funded by the European Union, and as such, this will mean that Malta will only have to pay part of the expenses involved. One suggestion that we feel duty bound to make is that before final decisions are taken, the authorities concerned should take a look at what other countries have done to protect similar sites. For example Cyprus, which has a climate similar to ours, has covered its remains in a similar way to what we will be doing at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, and therefore its experience could serve us well.
In Cyprus, the historical significance of the sites has not been disturbed by the modern interventions, and while visitors can still see the beauty of the remains, the latter are given adequate protection from the daily wear-and-tear of man’s presence and from the weather. This, we are sure, will also be possible in Malta.
Of course, this will not be the only project that will be undertaken by Heritage Malta in the coming three years. There are others, such as the visitors’ centre at the Tarxien Temples and the refurbishment of the National Museum of Fine Arts that are already taking shape or are in the planning stage. As in all other projects, great attention must be given to protect the past and at the same time allow visitors to get a deep insight as to what Malta can offer to both locals and tourists.
In launching the three-year plan, the Tourism and Culture Minister described the project to transform the Domus Romana in Rabat as having been Heritage Malta’s largest undertaking. Each site is different from the others but we are sure that experience gained in previously-done projects does come in handy when preparing for others in the making in terms of planning, organisation and deadlines, and therefore, Heritage Malta must take account of problems that cropped up in the past to make sure that mistakes are not repeated.
At a time when the tourism industry needs a boost, our rich culture and history can help us begin a new chapter. In this case, the past can be a guarantee for our future.