Amongst the many initiatives introduced by the Ministry for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government over the past years, one of the most popular is surely the Local Council restoration scheme, aimed at the valorization of the historical patrimony found in villages and cities around Malta. 

First launched in 2015, the Restoration Works Scheme Project provides a structured platform through which Local Councils, very often with the direct involvement of members of the public, can submit proposals for the restoration of vernacular, grassroot buildings and monuments which are of value to their community. The scheme allows Local Councils to identify and propose for restoration a range of small buildings and other immovable monuments considered worthy and in need of preservation in their community. 

It is open on a yearly basis and is aimed largely at small and medium sized projects such as small churches and chapels, towers, votive statues, niches, pillboxes and other historical monuments, structures and sites found in villages and cities. 

This year 13 patrimonial sites which vary from statues, niches, monuments, chapels and other historical structures found in the various villages and cities will benefit from restoration through this call.

The Local Council's role in this scheme is both to identify which projects are to be singled out for restoration, on the basis of the benefit their restoration imparts to their communities, and then to maintain the restored building/monument for a period of ten years following project completion. They are also required to cover all building permit fees, as well as to facilitate contacts with public service entities. The Scheme is launched on a quasi-annual basis, and reaches directly all the fifty-four Local councils of Malta through the   Department of Local Government. A set of application guidelines and criteria are issued with the Call to assist the Local Councils in the submission of projects proposals. 

Basically, these stipulate that the scheme is open to all local councils in Malta with the exception of those falling within the Cottonera area and Mdina, which already benefit on an ongoing basis from the initiatives of the Rehabilitation Projects Office and the Kottonera Foundation. The project proposals are first checked by the Restoration and Preservation Department against the Scheme's eligibility criteria, and projects deemed to be falling outside of the scope of the Scheme's Guidelines are disqualified. A Selection Committee set up by the Ministry for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government subsequently assesses the eligible projects against the established Selection Criteria. Eligible projects are subsequently ranked in order of merit, primarily based on the historical and artistic relevance of the monuments, their state of conservation, and the visibility of the intervention within the community.

To date, in the eight years since the launch of the Scheme, a total of fifty-four projects in forty-one different localities in Malta have been selected to be restored - this means that 82% of the Local Councils eligible to participate in the Scheme have been successful in seeing a restoration proposal which they submitted being selected. Nine localities had two projects selected in different years and two Local Councils being three times successful with their submitted proposals since the launch of the Scheme in 2015.

The scheme is administered and executed by the Restoration and Preservation Department, from the initial planning phase down to the on-site execution.  Preparation for the execution of the selected projects commences through the surveying of the buildings and monuments, carried out with specialized laser-scanning equipment, preparation of planning applications and the undertaking of scientific investigation which will later inform the restoration intervention methodology to be adopted. Once permits are in hand the projects are executed by the Department's own staff involving multidisciplinary teams of skilled craftsmen, restoration technicians, conservators and conservation architects. Each project is generally designed around an average on-site execution phase of approximately six to eight months.

Forty-six projects have been completed to date, amongst which are nineteen chapels, fourteen votive niches, street shrines and statues, two coastal fortifications, three archways and various other historical buildings and other structures. Another five projects are currently underway, whilst another three are planned to start in the coming weeks.

All the above goes a long way in showing how truly successful this Scheme has proved to be.

The Ministry will continue to offer Local Councils the possibility of submitting proposals under this Scheme, which will again be launched towards the end of the year. It will be yet another opportunity for close collaboration between public entities local communities in our common goal of giving  new lease of life to the historical buildings which adorn our towns and villages.

The scheme has the aim of valorising the historical patrimony which is found in the various communities.  Historical artifacts found in the respective villages and cities occupy pride and place in the communities and this scheme has the aim of safeguarding those important aspects of our heritage.

As a Government we are committed to keep delivering initiatives which preserve, restore and rehabilitate our historical patrimony. 

Through restoration on historical places and monuments, we are preserving the Maltese Cultural Heritage for the generations after us.

 

Visit to the UAE

This week I had the pleasure to visit the United Arab Emirates.  The aim of the visit was two-fold.

Firstly, I had an official meeting with the Culture and Youth Minister of the UAE Sheikh Salem Khalid al Qassimi whereby we discussed themes of mutual interest in the field of cultural patrimony, the arts and the creative industry.

Sheikh al Qassimi also was so kind as to invite me to the Artisan Museum in Abu Dhabi where we could see exhibitions relating to the intangible heritage of the Emirates.  I could not help but remark the similarities between aspects of intangible heritage relating to the two countries such as "newl" and the use of "mekkuk" when it comes to artisan knitting using "suf" (wool).

We want to strengthen our co-operation and take it to the next level in those fields, for the ultimate benefit of the respective cultural practitioners and students.

The second reason for my trip to UAE was to visit Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum to see the famous two Cippi standing one next to each other after 241 long years apart which are credited with being an effective translator of the Phoenician and Greek languages.

The story is as follows: the two renowned Cippi which were discovered in Malta centuries ago.  They were separated when one of them was sent to France by Grand Master de Rohan as a gift.

The Cippi date back to the 2nd Century BC. Besides their great aesthetic and historical value, they are a symbol of language decipherment and of diplomatic relations.

It is not known with certainty when the Cippi were discovered, but they were first mentioned in 1694 as part of the collection of Ġan Franġisk Abela. Back then, the Phoenician language had not yet been totally deciphered. Copies of the inscriptions were sent abroad and from the many scholars who worked on them, Abbot Jean-Jacques Barthélemy from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belle-Lettres in Paris managed to break the code of the Phoenician language in 1758. This brought international acclaim to the Cippi and, as a sign of recognition, Grand Master de Rohan sent one of the Cippi to the Académie in 1782. It was transferred to the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1864. The other one is housed at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. Both museums have loaned their respective Cippus to be displayed in a temporary exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The exhibition is being held on the joint initiative of Heritage Malta and the Embassy of Malta in the United Arab Emirates, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between the UAE and Malta.  In fact the diplomatic relations took off when two great men - Sheikh Zayed and Dom Mintoff - laid the foundations.

I would like to thank Ambassador Maria Camilleri Calleja for being the best Safira Maltija could ever have in the UAE as well as Mr Mario Cutajar, Noel Zammit and the staff at Heritage Malta for their strong work in the heritage sector.