First it was meant to be turned into a car park, but the news has just been broken that St George’s Square, popularly known as Palace Square, is set to be turned back into an open space for relaxation.
As mentioned, the government wanted to put an underground car park below the square, but the discovery of ancient subterranean passages (along with a hefty dose of opposition all round) has fortunately changed some minds.
Valletta has a number of squares, Freedom Square, St John’s and many others, yet few of them have been left as relaxation areas as originally intended. One is a car park and a space utilised by street vendors while many of the others have been more or less taken over by cafeterias, although recent government enforcement has improved matters.
In fact, a recent article in this newspaper’s sister publication, The Malta Independent on Sunday, highlighted this fact and compared the state of affairs to other capital cities in Europe, Rome, Madrid, even London.
The discrepancies are obvious. All capital cities have retained squares as a place of rest and relaxation, or have allowed artists to flourish in using the surroundings as subject matter for paintings and pencil drawings. Yes, by all means, they have allowed cafeterias to set out their tables, but it is done in a tasteful manner that makes use of the peripheries of squares, rather than an all out ‘flea market’ setting.
As mentioned, things have improved and the restoration of Palace Square to a place of relaxation is most welcome. Impressions have already been published, which at a first look seem rather tasteful. In moving the House of Representatives to another location, the idea seems to be good, yet we urge the government and indeed the eventual architect and designer to retain the majesty of the President’s Palace which lies opposite.
Lighting, street furniture and water fountains have all been mentioned as possible features, while the flooring is to be made of lava brick or porfido. It is critical, however, to ensure that the design is not over the top – Malta has seen its fair share of monuments and makeovers that are in bad taste, or turn out to be white elephants.
We surely cannot afford to undertake such a project, which has been overdue for many a year, only to ruin it by going for the cheap and tacky. Again, we have improved in our designs, but people are already whispering that they would not like to see too modern a design being put in place.
The government has gone on record saying it wants the square to be complete by November, in time to host a Christmas Market. This is also in line with European thought and one only has to visit such markets abroad to see the success that they are. Whether they will be able to set up for this Christmas or next remains to be seen – but the intentions seem to be good.
There are also discussions underway to see what is to be done with the horse shelter, which while absolutely necessary for the wellbeing of horses in Summer, is an eyesore and is somewhat pongy. One hopes that a suitable place (and design) will be found. As for moving the Sette Gugnio monument, the government said it might be moved as it is closely linked to parliament – well – just leave it alone. For starters, it looks good where it is. And secondly – we wouldn’t want to break it now, do we?