The issue of restoring Valletta has been on the burner for some time now. It started off a few years back with the removal of unsightly air conditioning units hanging on the outer walls of certain structures.
The second step was the undertaking of a number of delicate projects, such as the restoration of various auberges, fresco paintings and chapels from the time of the Knights of St John and many other individual projects.
This was followed up by securing funding for the restoration of the bastion walls, which run for kilometre after kilometre, ringing round Valletta’s perimeter. The culmination of it all was the announcement of Renzo Piano’s plans to rehabilitate the entrance to Valletta by turning the ditch into a pleasure garden, rebuilding the bridge and removing the monstrous fascist architecture that is City Gate. Adding to this, we have the contentious issue of the Opera House rehabilitation project, which is intensified by plans to situate the parliament building next to it. We have said time and time again, there will be differing opinions on the Piano Project and surely no one will be 100 per cent satisfied with it. Such is life, but no one can argue that whatever the plans are, they are surely much more pleasing than the current state of affairs.
One must mention that the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs has always been involved along with specialist Restoration Unit employees and the unsung heroes, the Works Department.
Tuesday was a case in point. The Ta’ Lies area of Valletta has perhaps lost its importance to the average Maltese citizen. It is known to be the area where cruise liners berth and the site of the annual Jazz Festival.
What many people do not seem to realise (or have forgotten), is that this area leads to the second entrance to Valletta, the Victoria Gate. This was, for many years, the ‘backdoor’ to the Capital with trade moving in and out from the docks and berthing points below.
It is a very pretty area of Valletta with plenty of stone carvings, angels and gargoyles adorning the simplest of buildings. Of course, as mentioned, one finds the beautiful Victoria Gate there too. There is also quite a popular night-spot in the area where the younger crowds gather to enjoy a drink or two in the picturesque setting on weekends.
Tourists also tend to make their way into Valletta from this area when they disembark from cruise liners for the day. It was low-key, no one made a fuss about it, and now that it has been cleaned up and given some much needed expert attention, the results are there to see.
Decades of grime, paint and exhaust fumes have painstakingly been peeled away to reveal the true colour of the stone. It looks great!
One must take this into the context of having a continuous waterfront stretching from Valletta to the Three Cities. We have a few pieces of the puzzle that are shiny and bright. Valletta and its waterfront; Vittoriosa and its waterfront; rehabilitation of Cospicua’s Dock is also in the pipeline - and everyone acknowledges just what a gem we could have if we linked the individual pieces together.
Marsa Creek, Senglea and Cospicua might prove to be a harder nut to crack, as will Fort Saint Elmo. But we are sure that with a good deal of elbow grease and some planning, we really will have the most beautiful harbour in the world. It already is picturesque, but what we now need to do is pay attention to individual details that will truly make it something special and world-renowned. It will not be easy and it won’t be done in a flash - such is Malta. But we must keep at it.