A new aid which should help in the better management of the huge Maltese cultural heritage, the Cultural Heritage Inventory Management System, was launched by Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who said the system would also open new horizons for all those interested in Malta’s cultural development.

CHIMS, he said, also marked another important development in the implementation of cultural policy.

The development of a CHIMS was one of the prerequisites for the adoption of the acquis communitaire. Dr Zammit Dimech said the system covered a double role – it was both an inventory and an additional tool in the management of Malta’s cultural heritage. CHIMS would also be helpful in providing public access to information which till now has been difficult to access.

CHIMS was also an important step in implementing the Cultural Heritage Act of 2002, which obliged the Cultural Heritage Superintendence to develop a national inventory of cultural heritage properties in Malta, both movable and immovable, as well as landscapes. The inventory would also include properties in the sea.

The Cultural Heritage Act as well as the Maltese Council for Culture and the Arts Act were the founding blocks promoting the protection of Malta’s vast heritage as well as the promotion of culture within a wider socio-economic perspective. The Cultural Heritage Act also permitted the creation of the completely autonomous agency Heritage Malta, the Cultural Heritage Superintendence, and the Guarantee Committee chaired by President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici.

Heritage Malta was instrumental in the improvement in the management of Malta’s cultural heritage. Through this act, the Malta Centre for Restoration Bighi passed under the remit of Heritage Malta. The centre is now the restoration arm of the agency and is carrying out important restoration and conservation projects with EU financial aid.

Dr Zammit Dimech said culture had a hugely important role in the tourism sector, attracting a good number of tourists.