Private company sponsors church's restoration

The 437th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of Malta's capital city, Valletta was yesterday celebrated with the announcement by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers that it would be sponsoring the completion of the restoration project of Our Lady of Victories Church - the first building in Valletta, by Din l-Art Helwa and the Valletta Rehabilitation Project.

PricewaterhouseCoopers are dedicating a sum running into a thousands of liri for the project, which is expected to take 10 months to complete. The restoration is being carried out in three phases, with the VRP forking out the rest of the money, a further Lm15,000 or so, required for the restoration.

Phase one will cover the restoration of the house of the chaplain adjoining the Church, phase two the front of the Church, the two sides and the west wall, while phase three will deal with the belfry.

The contract for phase one and the scaffolding has been awarded to J&C Farrugia, who have conducted similar projects in recent years.

The work consists of cleaning the stonework without removing the protective patina and the replacement of the worn stones. It will be under the supervision of architect Amanda de Giovanni.

Environment Minister Francis Zammit Dimech yesterday unveiled a public notice board highlighting the importance of the project.

He said partial restoration of the church had already been carried out. The roofs and urns on the façade were restored as was the central monumental part of the façade. The bronze bust of Pope Leo XII, who had donated money for work to be done on the church, was currently being restored by restorer Sante Guido. As the bust was of great importance, it was being kept inside the church and a copy was being placed outside.

Another part of the project included the restoration of the ceiling frescoes. Photogrammetry surveys have been undertaken and the restoration work is to continue later in the year. The VRP is also studying the restoration of a decorative painting on the lower part of the Church.

But the principal façade of this earliest building in Valletta and its Chaplain's House has remained unrestored due to lack of money and was still an eyesore to all those entering and leaving Valletta.

The church is of great historical importance and Grand Master La Valette spent many hours in prayer there. In his will he ordained that his body should be buried in the crypt. He was in fact buried there.

Din l-Art Helwa executive president Martin Scicluna described the sponsorship as "another victory for the city and its cultural heritage" on the 437th anniversary of the laying of the city's foundation stone in the area below Our Lady of Victories Church.

PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman John Bonello said the project gave his company the opportunity to contribute directly to the embellishment and upgrading of the capital city, a world heritage site.