On Sunday 5 April, a group of Malta Historical Society members and friends got together and visited Fort Manoel, more than anything else to rekindle memories for those who had visit it in the past, but especially to witness and appreciate the great effort that is being done to rehabilitate this too-long uncared for gem of a fort of the Knights by the MIDI Consortium.
Ever since its completion, at least as regards the bastions in 1726, the fort – in spite of its apparently peaceful past – did undergo many vicissitudes that made it suffer more through the neglect and destruction of man than the ravages of time.
As the Society’s treasurer, I briefed the participants on the historical aspect of the fort. The group was shown around by architect Edward Said, who is part of the restoration team at aoM Partnership headed by Prof. Alex Torpiano. No sooner did the group cross over the iron bridge erected by the British that leads directly to the fort that they were all overawed by the magnitude of the fort and the still greater magnitude of the task that awaited MIDI, to try and restore the site, its environs and its internal constructions.
It is the organiser’s conviction that when a site or building has been restored, no one can appreciate the hard work, deep thoughts and strenuous efforts needed unless he/she visits the site while the work is underway. Very few, if any, can have any inkling of what the restorer had to pass through when they see the “finished product” of the restoration job, so this experience of witnessing the ongoing work undoubtedly instils greater respect and admiration for the Herculean task of Fort Manoel’s restoration.
Rain, sun, water and sea-spray all did their “fair” share in contributing to the disintegration process, mostly on the stonework. But, there is almost no need to mention that the greatest destructive agency is that of the vandal, whether it is in wartime or in peacetime. Indeed, local experience has taught us that Malta has suffered destruction of its heritage more in the aftermath of the war than during the war itself. And Fort Manoel is one of the prime examples.
The developers had to suffer the big headache of trying to come to grips with the responses and actual participation in the physical consolidation and corrections of the mistakes, vandalistic intrusions and natural elements that eroded much of the exteriors, and even the interiors of buildings and the encircling bastions, not to mention one of the biggest problems – that of restoring the chapel of St Anthony.
This chapel, designed by Mondion, was virtually destroyed following a direct hit by Luftwaffe bombers in March 1942 – leaving the still standing remnants wide open to the destructive elements of nature and man for more than 60 years. Up to a certain extent one can understand the perplexity of the developers when it came to its decision-making: “Should it be just consolidated? Should it remain a ruin reminding everyone of man’s madness or should it be fully restored as the saying goes ‘dov’era com’era?’” (Where it was like it was.)
Intelligently and altruistically, the developers together with the relevant authorities decided on a compromise based on the latter course – for which we should be thankful. At present the forest of scaffolding that fill the chapel internally give an inkling of the mammoth task required to restore it.
The whole group could not restrain an almost poignant feeling when they observed that the chapel is well on the way to completion, waiting only to be roofed over. To the satisfactory surprise of all present, Edward had the courage to state that by the end of summer the chapel would, hopefully, be completed!
This made us ponder a bit because the question of dov’era com’era always aroused heated controversy but past examples have shown that this has always been and will always be the wisest path to follow.
We had the example of Pinto Chapel (of the Waterfront), which was roofless and almost gutted. No one had the courage to suggest its full restoration until Paul Cassar did the impossible and restored it to its former glory. Recently, we had the Tas-Salvatur chapel in Kalkara that likewise was condemned as an impossible case until ex-minister Ninu Zammit took the bull by the horns and decided to restore it – another case of dov’era com’era. The most recent is this chapel at Fort Manoel that at first was considered as another impossibility; but sheer goodwill resulted in this marvellous rehabilitation.
Aren’t these prime examples for those – a small but influential minority – who still persist that our Royal Opera House cannot be restored dov’era com’era?
Seemingly going off at tangents, one cannot but bring to the fore these thoughts that the wonderful restoration of Fort Manoel inspire and give a lot of food for thought for other so-called “impossible” restorations on the island – Fort St Elmo being another example.
Well done MIDI, Malta is indeed grateful to you and everybody is dreaming of the day when all restorations will be declared fully complete. Sceptics may remark, once more, about the impossibility of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel but isn’t St Anthony known to be the Saint of the Impossible?
Salvator Mousu