Editorial

The bombed out site of the former Opera House practically just as one enters Valletta has become a monument of sorts. It is, for some, a reminder of the blitz to which our capital city and the rest of the island was subjected by Axis bombers during the second world war, and the incredible heroism displayed by the Maltese.

For many others, however, it is a monument to the inaction of successive governments, over the span of 60 years, to heal this architectural and cultural wound once and for all. Attempts were made to start the process of rebuilding the theatre by holding competitions for architectural designs in the early Fifties and in the late Eighties. In both cases the winners drew their share of controversy, but the matter stopped there.

It stopped there obviously because it hit the very serious obstacle of funding. What would have been built for Lm1 million or so in the early Fifties would now require anything from Lm19 million to Lm22 million (including an underground car park) according to Roads and Urban Development Minister Jesmond Mugliett.

Mr Mugliett, who was speaking at a business breakfast organised by the Chamber of Architects in collaboration with the Malta Financial and Business Times last Wednesday devoted to the opera house site, said the government was tending towards the idea of using the site for the new Parliament building. This, he said, would cost less than the Lm12 million to Lm15 million which building the theatre alone would cost.

The idea of incorporating shops and commercial spaces in the arts centre as envisaged, with the rental income setting off the centre's running expenses, was shot down by Mr Mugliett because the proposed shopping area was so large it would have killed off Valletta's existing shops - one can also argue that more shops would attract even more shoppers, but let us say the minister is right.

Mr Mugliett also announced that the government wanted to finish the new Parliament building (which would also incorporate spaces devoted to culture) within the term of the current legislature. Most people's reaction to this last bit of news would surely be that at last something is being done about this long-festering wound.

Whether that is the right decision is another matter altogether. Without entering into the merits of the proposed building's architectural design, one feels that the arguments brought so far to build the new Parliament chamber, and ancillary offices, have not been persuasive enough.

As for the architecture, many are adamant that from the outside, at least, the building should look exactly like Barry's old opera house, whatever use it is put to.

One feels that a holistic plan is called for here. After Renzo Piano's controversial plans for City Gate were discarded, the new building replacing the old opera house should be part and parcel of the plans for the redevelopment of City Gate (the present 1965 version is, by general consent, totally unaesthetic) and Freedom Square. Valletta certainly deserves a more dignified entrance and open space behind it.

This, of course, is also tied to the eventual rebuilding of the bus terminus, the plans for which are still on the drawing board (and as a model to be admired at St James Cavalier).

But apart from the architecture and the aesthetics involved, the question is: do we need an arts centre, incorporating an opera house/symphony hall/recital rooms/chamber music rooms/lecture rooms?

Some would reply that these cultural needs are already being met thanks to the Manoel Theatre, the Mediterranean Conference Centre and St James Cavalier. But all these, put together, certainly do not match the role played in Malta's cultural life by the Royal Opera House in its heyday. Enough to say that Malta, for many eventually celebrated Italian opera singers, was the first stepping stone to fame, and that Verdi's Aïda was first performed here two years before it received its premiere at London's Covent Garden, such was the prestige enjoyed by our opera house.

Things have changed dramatically since then. There are so many competing forms of entertainment today, and good operatic and classical music performances can be had in the comfort of one's home on television, videos, DVDs and CDs. But no one denies that Valletta still does not have the major arts centre it deserves.

Then, of course, no one disputes that the House of Representatives is operating out of cramped quarters in the Palace, and that the ideal is to have a dedicated building. But somehow, the idea of transforming a former temple of culture into a temple of politics does not sit well with a lot of people.

So, let the debate begin - or rather, let it flare up again with renewed vigour! The important thing, at this stage, is to do something about that ugly site, and soon.