Visitors to Mnajdra and Hagar Qim are likely to gain a better appreciation of key features of the world heritage sites thanks to interpretation panels that have been installed around the two megalithic temples and on the pathway that joins them.

The panels, 25 in all, have been financed by funds raised jointly by Din l-Art Helwa and The Times in the aftermath of the April 2001 vandalism at Mnajdra.

Each panel consists of photographs of sections of the temples and their surroundings accompanied by captions in Maltese and English.

Touring the temples yesterday, Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, accompanied by Din l-Art Helwa executive president Martin Galea and Heritage Malta chairman Mario Tabone, said the panels were very important information guides for the 173,000 visitors to the temples each year.

The Times editor Ray Bugeja and consulting editor Victor Aquilina were present for the launch. As editor of The Times when the act of vandalism took place, Mr Aquilina had joined forces with Din l-Art Helwa to strongly campaign in favour of protecting Malta's heritage sites through all possible means.

The Times had set up a fund which was used in education programmes for children. A share of the money raised then has been used to finance the interpretation panels. Dr Tabone said that when Malta would have properly conserved and rehabilitated Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien Temples and Ggantija, the country would have made "a gigantic leap".

Presentation was of the utmost importance, Dr Tabone said, referring to the information panels and the eventual conservation plans in the pipeline for the 7,000-year-old temples. A visitors' centre is planned for Hagar Qim and Mnajdra and two large cupolas will shield them from erosion.

However, Dr Tabone said, scientific studies had to be carried out for the best possible preservation solutions to be found. At the moment, environmental monitoring was going on at the two temples.

Heritage Malta was working hard to manage these important heritage sites, Dr Tabone added.

In March, Heritage Malta took over the management of the Malta Centre for Restoration in Bighi. Dr Zammit Dimech announced yesterday that calls for applications for senior management posts would be published soon.

Through proposed amendments to the Cultural Heritage Act, Parliament is soon expected to integrate Heritage Malta and the Malta Centre for Restoration.

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