Putting heritage on the agenda

Published on the Times of Malta on Tuesday 12th January, 2010 by Petra Bianchi.

Growing numbers of people are conscious of the attractions of the heritage that surrounds us and the positive value it adds to our living environment. This was evident recently in the spontaneous public outcry against the proposed digging up of picturesque old Balluta Square to create a new car park. There are many other examples.

Unfortunately, a number of our prime heritage sites are utterly neglected. It is an unbelievable shame that some of our most important historic monuments are derelict, such as Fort St Angelo and Fort St Elmo.

The government has its hands full and clearly does not cope with the quantity of sites under its care. Mepa's heritage section and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage work hard, but both are badly under-staffed and their work could be better coordinated. The cultural heritage committee, which advises the Mepa board, carries out disappointingly few site visits.

Heritage Malta is doing a good job but has huge responsibilities to carry out with its funds. The current structures and resources are not adequate and heritage is regrettably not a focus of the ongoing reform of Mepa.

In spite of this, awareness has grown steadily. In the past, there were many more examples of historic sites used for inappropriate activities, such as animal husbandry and damaging entertainment or storage facilities. This is now less prevalent, although not eradicated.

The restoration of Fort St Angelo is finally receiving some attention through work by Heritage Malta and a government application for EU funds. There have been plenty of other good initiatives over recent years, such as the Maritime museum, the Vittoriosa and Valletta waterfronts, the refurbishment of the Roman Villa, new projects in Valletta, such as St George's Square and Victoria Gate, Villa Francia, Palazzo Falson and the ongoing restoration of the Mdina bastions, to name but a few. A conspicuous mistake is the over-sized visitor centre at Ħaġar Qim.

From a different angle, our built and natural heritage has been pushed up on the agenda by Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi, with his drive to salvage dilapidated public land and buildings, by evicting squatters and reclaiming stretches of coastline.

Dr Azzopardi has also drafted and pushed through recent amendments to legislation in order to enable the government to acquire for public purpose sites that are of historical or cultural significance and which have fallen into disrepair. Such sites would then be restored and opened to the public.

The amendments also link heritage to tourism, recognising the economic value heritage adds to the country. Heritage and tourism have long been allies and, in the previous legislature, an attempt was made to combine the two sectors in one ministry. Cultural heritage attracts visitors.

The interdependence of tourism and conservation is an everyday facet of heritage management, however, it is not enough for heritage to serve tourism, it must also work the other way round. Tourism plans must also take heritage concerns into account.

It is pointless conserving our heritage to attract visitors when new tourism developments might simultaneously threaten to ruin it and this includes our natural heritage, such as the landscape around Ħondoq ir-Rummien bay, which is endangered by plans for a major project there.

To view the whole article and the comments, go to http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100112/opinion/putting-heritage-on-the-agenda