First Superintendent of Cultural Heritage

The government has appointed Museums director Anthony Pace as Malta's first Superintendent of Cultural Heritage under the new Cultural Heritage Law.

The appointment is the first in a series of measures designed to reform Malta's heritage sector. Mr Pace will be asked to head the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, one of the new organisations that are envisaged in the recently enacted Cultural Heritage Act 2002.

The new organisation will be Malta's 'watchdog' in matters related to heritage in its wider sense. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage will be responsible for regulating the heritage sector by fulfilling the duties of protecting and documenting cultural heritage as well as ensuring its accessibility.

The Cultural Heritage Act gives a wide definition of heritage to encompass material heritage, archaeology, fine arts, anthropology and various aspects of our intangible culture.

It is therefore envisaged that the Superintendence will serve as one of Malta's primary focal points in a reformed heritage sector. One of the main roles of the Superintendence will be that of establishing a national inventory of cultural properties.

In addition, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage will assume all the regulatory powers that formerly formed part of the responsibilities of the Museums Department.

Mr Pace, who has a 20-year career in the heritage sector, will be the last director of the Museums Department. The Department was first established in 1903 under Sir Temi Zammit.

Mr Pace began his career as a research assistant in the archives of the Cathedral Museum in Mdina. He has held various curatorial posts within the Museums Department and has served as director since 1999.

After receiving academic training in prehistory, history, archaeology and heritage in Malta and Cambridge, Mr Pace led a number of excavation and museum exhibition refurbishment projects for the Museums Department.

During his tenure as director, a number of important projects were completed. Foremost among these were the refurbishment of the National Museum of Archaeology and the conservation and presentation project of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. A number of travelling exhibitions involving archaeological as well as art historical subjects have been successfully staged in various European venues.

Throughout his career, Mr Pace has represented Malta at the Council of Europe, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and various other international meetings. Since 1994, he has been closely involved in change management exercises, the drafting of heritage policies and the drawing up of the new heritage legislation.