Protecting Malta's heritage in stone

An eminent British archaeologist, Lord Redfern, the same man who years ago pointed out that temples like Hagar Qim and Ggantija were the oldest free-standing monuments in the world, said that these monuments were insufficiently known throughout the globe. He is undoubtedly right if he is comparing our temples with, say, the Egyptian pyramids or England's Stonehenge, but there is equally no doubt that these temples have been written about again and again in both the scholarly and the popular literature about prehistoric Europe. They certainly do not need discovering, as they were in the days when authors like the French Houel first brought some of them to the notice of Europeans in the 18th century.

Perhaps what Lord Redfern really wishes is that the Maltese tourist industry should lay much greater emphasis in its marketing strategy on our temple culture. If this happens, as it should, the effect would be an increase, possibly a great one, in the number of visitors who go to major sites like Hal Saflieni, Hagar Qim/Mnajdra and Ggantija.

All these sites have been suffering from environmental causes, including the presence of large parties of visitors day after day, but while our marvellous Hypogeum at Hal Saflieni has now received a high degree of protection, following a long closure, Lord Redfern's free-standing monuments still have but minimal protection. Mnajdra has suffered one of the vilest and most damaging attacks imaginable by vandals and some of the megaliths at Ggantija have for some time been in a precarious state.

Both politicians and experts have for some time been thinking deeply about these matters but the possibility of having engineered landfills close to Hagar Qim/Mnajdra is a very worrying one and the Gonzi government has still not come out against this project which has been attacked again and again by a wide range of bodies and individuals, including Heritage Malta itself. A couple of weeks ago Din l-Art Helwa launched yet another strong attack on this ill-advised proposal and many are hoping that in the near future good sense will prevail.

At the same time, exciting plans for the preservation of Hagar Qim/Mnajdra are developing. A radical plan for this complex, which is now considered a heritage park, now looks as if it will start being implemented soon. The project, designed by Swiss architects, for the enclosure of these temples within a transparent tent-like structure, may bring a pang to the heart of all those who love this site, open to sun and air, but this may be the only way allowed by contemporary technology to preserve these World Heritage temples. The only comfort is that the design is not based on permanent structures and can be removed subsequently without damaging the site.

Plans for preserving the Tarxien temples are still at an early stage but environmental monitoring equipment will soon be installed at the site to provide data for the project towards which the Bank of Valletta is contributing handsomely but which will require other generous sponsors to enable it to be launched when the time is ripe.

This site presents special problems but, unlike Hagar Qim/Mnajdra, it is surrounded by modern buildings, so aesthetic considerations are smaller here. The exhibition of original sculptures from the site, now in the National Museum of Archaeology, in a much-desired visitors' centre has been mentioned and ought to find a place in the final project.