Heritage and tourism

I have been residing in Malta for about five years now and have made a habit of walking around the St Julians and St Georges Bay area. On my walk around St Georges Bay, I pass Moyninan House which was once a delightful old building complex from around 1850. This building was the residence of an Admiral Moyninan and is a heritage protected site but has not been used during my time on the island.

Over the last 18 months or so I have noticed how this building has been slowly ransacked. Originally the doors and windows were bricked up, then around 18 months ago entrance was gained through one of the bricked up doors and since then the building has been systematically trashed. Currently all the doors and windows have been stolen and through the gaping holes piles of rubbish delight the eyes. I cynically wonder whether this destruction is by design so the valuable site can be re-used for future development.

Be this as it may for a trashed heritage building if it was away from tourist eyes, but it is not. All the people staying at the St Georges Bay hotels wanting to reach St Julians or the Bay Street complex have to walk past this eyesore. I don't have to spell out the significance of this to the tourist industry but it is clearly not a positive one. I have read that St Georges Bay itself is to be renovated, with a new beach and walkways; Moyninan House should also be part of this reconstruction effort.

As a heritage building, Moyninan House is a government matter. I would suggest that before the next tourist season emergency action be taken with respect to this building. Judging by the restoration work that has taken place on the old British army buildings in the St Andrews area this building could easily be renovated and re-used but until that day what remains must be protected. As a stop gap measure I would suggest that the building be cleaned and all external apertures securely bricked up once more until a use for the building has been decided.

Malta is an island with a magnificent heritage and Moyninan House is but a very small part of it. The costs of keeping this heritage in good repair must be very high but with EU money the new government environmental agency should be able to accomplish this task. In the meantime, for the sake of the Malta tourist industry and the St Georges Bay environment, please make a start with tackling Moyninan House.