The Gozo Citadel will have its own Master and Conservation Plan that forms the basis of all future interventions on this historical site. Funding has been recently secured under the EEA Financial Mechanisms. The Gozo Ministry has already set up a working group to formulate the necessary tender for the carrying out of the required studies.
The project was launched on 10 May during a press conference by Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, at the Citadel. By a fortunate coincidence, the National Archives (Gozo section) had planned some months back that the exhibition on the occasion of the Archives Awareness Week for the year 2007 would be related to the Gozo Citadel.
The National Archives (Gozo section) – NAG – serves as the deposit for the records produced or received by government entities in Gozo in the transaction of their affairs. It is housed in a purposely built hall adjacent to the Public Library of Gozo. It was officially inaugurated on 24 November 1989 by Dr Ugo Mifsud-Bonnici, then Education Minister, and Anton Tabone, then Gozo Minister.
Eighteen years later, the NAG has received deposits from 26 different government entities. Each entity is divided into as many sections as is deemed necessary to reflect the various responsibilities or activities of that entity. The number of items deposited is nearing 10,000.
The exhibition features a number of documents related to the Citadel, plans of the fortifications, maps, and old photographs. These were selected from several of the twenty-six entities whose records are deposited at the Archives.
Concurrently, there is also an exhibition of three hundred and fifty (350) photos shot by Daniel Cilia, a photographer of international fame, at the beginning of his photographic career. These photos are a picture record on the state of the Citadel of Gozo in the 1980s. Since then, a good amount of restoration has taken place.
The exhibition will be inaugurated today by Gozo Minister Debono, to coincide with the Archives Awareness Week, to be held between 22 and 27 October.
The exhibition will however run up to Saturday 3 November. It is mounted within the premises of the National Archives, Gozo Section, in Triq Vajringa, Rabat, Gozo. It is open from Monday to Saturday from 8am to 1pm; and on Wednesdays, up to 6pm. Entrance is free.
The exhibition is being sponsored by HSBC (Gozo) and an exhibition catalogue is available. Besides, a souvenir postcard printed in a limited number edition of two hundred, hand numbered, and stamped with a Lm0.08 (EUR0.19) stamp postmarked at the Victoria Post Office on 18 October 2007, the day of the opening of the exhibition, is on sale at the exhibition.