Paul P. Borg
A Sunday story is a new series appearing on The Malta Independent on Sunday. It is intended to be just that, a story endeavouring to peep into the human heart and into the human soul as man reacts to situations in his immediate environment. I do not intend to simply write a story about man and trees and garrigues, or man and fish and clouds, but I shall try also to tip toe into the more intimate environment which is the human heart, the human soul and their closer environment.
It is said that when Engels and Marks had wanted to study French society, they were supplied with piles of ledgers and statistics, which they politely shoved away and decided to read Balzac instead. This is very significant as it means that they considered literature is the real reflection of society. It is the conscience of society, man's emotions and man's thoughts, the picture of the human soul in its immediate environment, man and environment - and their mutual reflections.
I hope the situations I will be presenting will reflect the social realities that will have created them. Of course it is presumptuous to suggest that solutions to presented situations or circumstances will be forthcoming. As an author one can only suggest through experience mostly, pinpoint where the pain is, and perhaps cry ouch! - and not how to remove it or suppress it. Naturally the end result is subjective and it cannot be otherwise, but it emanates from a sincere disposition of concern. Sometimes I will present a very short story perhaps to amplify what may be coming later.
I thank the editor for giving me the opportunity to present from time to time some situation that will hopefully make readers notice actual realities around, especially those which many look at daily, but never really see.
'Tas-Setta' cockroaches
The old woman was talking to me, and I could notice a slight hint of fear in her low voice.
"It was already dark when some visitors came to the Palace," she said. "It was winter and there was a strong wind. You know how windy it is up here! The people inside were all asleep, as was all the village."
A watchman with his family lived at the Palace in those far-off times. His father had been watchman before him, and when the old man retired, the son took over. They used to clean up the place and take care of it. The Palace was the most important building in the village. All farmers looked at it with awe, it was a Church of God, and the Blessed Sacrament was always in the chapel. But it was more than just a big church. It was a building for rich people and for powerful people. Frequently very important people called, as poor peasants the village community never dreamt of living inside it. Their lot was hard work and sacrifice... their humble razzett was all they had and it was enough because they never knew any better. The caretaker used to show these people round the awesome building. He would be able to earn something that way.
"Well," continued the old woman in her subdued voice. "That winter night when he heard that someone was knocking on the door, he went to open. At first he hesitated. Who could it ever be in this stormy weather? Who could it be and on a dark night like this?
"But he found some people at the door, and they wanted to have a look at the Palace, and they wanted to do this there and then. He told them it was not the right time. But they insisted and forced their way inside. But as soon as they had entered he saw a large amount of cockroaches flying around them, the biggest ones he had ever seen. He had never seen all those creatures in the Palace! But the strangers did not appear to take any notice. They were not afraid and went around the whole Palace. Then all of a sudden they left, vanishing in the darkness on horseback!"
The old woman was sure that the cockroaches were human beings whose soul had fallen prey to the hated devils of tas-setta! All human beings who remained roaming about after sunset would belong to these devils. The poor man made the sign of the cross, he mumbled some prayers, and as expected, the cockroaches left with the strange visitors, vanishing in the mysterious darkness...
It has been said that Selmun Palace and its immediate area is being finally revisited by seeking advantageous ways of using it. This is extremely good news in my opinion, as a basic factor in conservation is an effective but sustainable use of a site.
Whatever project is undertaken to embellish the area, should consider the following important points not necessarily directly touching the Selmun Palace itself.
God's endowments...but we have no mountains...
The natural beauty of the environment
Selmun is too beautiful a natural environmental site not to attract the attention of developers. Indeed, the Knights of Malta themselves had decided to build a castle on top of the hill in order to use the edifice as a summer residence close to the countryside.
Understandably the natural beauty of the Selmun countryside and its environs of bays, sandy beaches, hills, sheer cliffs, fields, clayey slopes and garrigues, was what caught the attention of many people wanted to focus their attention as a place of enjoyment and relaxation where man can relate in a harmonious and peaceful way with Mother Nature. This beauty was further enhanced by the peasants working in their fields and their families inhabiting the surrounding irziezet.
The aspect of a scenic beauty and peace, coupled with an abundance of Mediterranean flora and fauna, may indeed be the actual cause that kills these same natural environmental factors from which it emanates and will, almost certainly, paradoxically ruin its very existence. Overdevelopment invariably results in the very sad ruin of the beauty and peaceful relaxation it tries to establish for the many who seek it. It is sometimes very difficult to convince people that there is nothing wrong with leaving the garrigues as Mother Nature has managed to develop them. Man can only infuse a man-made synthetic make-up that will never be natural. It is worth remembering that it has taken Creation millions of years to develop natural beauty, but it will take just an impatient, bulldozer to destroy natural beauty!
Majesty of the Palace
The vocation of the castle and its setting as a place for rest and relaxation is so obvious. One finds for example the diary of Cesare Vassallo, the renowned archaeologist who lived there for some time in 1856. The Jesuits used it to accommodate their college boarders on vacation. Other people who actually used the hotel in the pre-war years told me of its popularity with what we would now call week-end breaks.
The Selmun Palace Maritim Hotel was the property of the Selmun Palace Hotel Company Limited owned by the national airline Air Malta, by its subsidiary the Air Supplies and Catering Company Limited and by the Malta Government. It was built to avail itself of the natural beauty of the site as well as to use the majesty of the Castle as a feature of attraction. The hotel was built on the tract of land known as Ix-Xagħra ta' Selmun and its construction began in 1979 and designed by architect Louis Naudi.
The hotel incorporates Selmun Castle which was restored during the summer of 1994 to make it an integrated building with its rooms converted into comfortable suites. It is a most unfortunate happening that during works of conversion, some earthenware pots and plates were discovered, buried in the main hall, the remains of the original church dedicated to the Madonna della Mercede. Presumably fearing the fact of stalling the renovation works, or some unknown reason, order was given to sadly destroy and throw away these artefacts! A disgraceful action indeed! Whatever information the finds could have yielded was consequently destroyed as well. There was also some controversy as to the actual extent works of conversion would take in order to convert the old building into a modern and luxurious building. Should the tourist industry be given preference over the need to conserve internal architectural features? Or should conservation of the architectural heritage be given preference? Indeed many an internal architectural feature was sacrificed in order to convert the building to its present condition. Amongst these one would mention the removal of the old oven and the bases of an old arch in the present kitchen, the widening of doorways, building of new roofs by the insertion of huge steel beams in the old walls of the old building, and use of grit-blasting all over the interior from top to bottom.
On the other hand, one would argue that the best way to conserve an old building would be to rehabilitate it. And this is exactly what the project was meant to do - but did not. The Castle had to pay a hefty price in order to live and avoid dereliction. A very, dear price indeed! I am sure that whatever new project is undertaken, utmost attention is taken not to further tamper with the castle, but to take care of its state of unfortunate neglect and deterioration, especially the facade, resulting from arrogant pseudo-conservation works ordered in 1994 and 1995.
The cultural aspect
The history of the old baroque building up the hill has to be delved into so as not to lose contact with the historical and environmental benefits it seeks to evoke. Killing its majestic appearance commanding the view from far off will be a big mistake. If the Palace is being used to catch the eye, so be it, let us do it if is necessary, but if in the process we hide it the way we have disgracefully hidden the de Redin Tower in St Julian's by wrapping around it a Radisson hotel, then we are wilfully killing the goose that lies the golden egg.
Selmun has always been a place connected to man's basic relationship with Mother Nature, in terms of man's old activities to extract an existence from the soil (he called it it-trob) around him. This is the basic activity that tied man intimately to his immediate environment and kept him going for centuries. Selmun and its environs should reflect this. The old Selmun peasant is perhaps now no more because society did not give him time and possibility to adjust himself to the new needs made available by technological advancement. The peasant died and his off-spring broke of the chain of continuity by not adopting an agricultural life style. Whatever new project at Selmun must reflect this aspect of human development. It is true that times show the dying or dead peasant in agricultural communities being replaced by the tourist in such a way that the former is no longer seen in the fields or moving along with his goats and sheep or horse drawn carts. We must make sure that the connection with Mother Nature (work in the fields, traditions, folktales, beliefs) are presented to the visitor. These projects should show how man in Malta participated also in the development of the universal human being.
Culture and environment
What Selmun went and is going through is representative of experiences of many, many other sites not only in Malta and in Gozo, but all over the Mediterranean. Indeed this occurred wherever the peasant was present as the most basic human being seeking to extract subsistence, was replaced by the individual of 'modern' times.
So let us understand and believe this: the beauty of the Palace is rendered even more evident if the least amount of interventions surround it, if the environment is least tampered with and its commanding view and skyline not compromised. The Palace stands out in all its glory if it is immersed in an atmosphere of natural and cultural beauty, in which it more or less still finds itself. This means that we must stop thinking that sunshine and natural scenic beauty are the only things a site has to offer. No. Selmun certainly does not mean simply beautiful countryside, but much, much more. And that has to be stressed.
The site is further enriched if we were to stress the traditional characteristics still evident in every shrub and in every stone and in every saying. Garrigues and buildings spring to life with beliefs, fears and superstitions, folktales and traditions. Each lane has its story. Each patch has its legend. Geography leaps with feeling, as it were. The tourist will experience the apparently static elements bouncing with an incredible dynamism. If only we were to make them visible by taking good decisions that show love and dedication when planning a possible development.
A Selmun project, be it about the castle or about the nearby hotel or indeed about the derelict long-forgotten Fort Campbell, has to be looked at through many factors, sustainable cultural and environmental aspects.
The architecture of nature and culture
I used to visit the old poet Ġorġ Pisani frequently whenever I crossed over to Gozo. He was always very happy to see me and my sons; he used to be very sad that very few authors and writers ever went up to him to say a brief hello, if ever! Once he told me the following when we discussed the indiscriminate use of our natural environment. Fortunately, I still have it on tape. He cried as he said these words:
"We have no mountains and we have no rivers as other countries have; we have very little in our small country... But this is what we have. This is what God has endowed on Malta, not much. But this is ours. Let us take proper care of it, let us love it..."
We have to stop equating our land or our soil to development or to money. If some similar development is contemplated an economic sine qua non wherever possible one must not severe the chain of cultural and identity continuity. Land is not money. Land has tradition. Land is part of the beauty of Mother Nature plus traditions and culture on it. We have in our times tried to stop depending directly on Mother Nature for our livelihood, but we still need to respect Nature. We cannot own and use every empty space indiscriminately divorcing it from culture. We still have to start loving and appreciating the soul of our windy garrigues and rugged cliffs, terraced fields and undulating valleys, rocky coasts and sandy bays... as well as traditions and folktales, the architecture of nature herself and the architecture of man, his history and culture.