Santa Marija in Victoria

LAST week many people were heading to Gozo for the Santa Marija weekend. The feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven is celebrated at the Cathedral, situated within the Citadel in Victoria.

Although all hotels on the island had long been fully booked for the weekend, farmhouses and apartments were still available. By Wednesday, the situation was returning to how it normally is during mid-August.

It was difficult to find accommodation on the island. Heavy traffic from Cirkewwa to Mgarr was being reported since Thursday. The significant increase in the number of cars on the island was visible and trying to cross Victoria from one end to the other in mid-morning was a nightmare. No parking was available anywhere near the centre.

The situation was worst in the roads leading to the Citadel and the Cathedral, the centre of the festivities. Last year, through this commentary, we appealed to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA), and to the other authorities involved to stop dragging their feet on the Cathedral parking grounds issue. The appeal has fallen on deaf ears.

The creation of a parking area next to the Citadel and the Cathedral on grounds purchased by the Cathedral for an exorbitant sum will ease parking problems in the area. It will also make it possible for the authorities to turn the road leading to the Citadel's entrance and the Cathedral Square into a much-needed pedestrian area.

The Cathedral authorities have gone out of their way and left no stone unturned to find a solution. A spokesman for the Cathedral Parish Council told The Sunday Times that there is a major problem related to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. The area is presumed to be of archaeological importance.

The same spokesman said that while this may be true, the Cathedral authorities are not going to disturb the present contours and fields in any way. The already existing dry stone walls will be rebuilt and reinforced to make them safer, but no major excavations are going to take place.

If the Superintendent would like to carry out archaeological excavations on the site - something extremely improbable - he would be free to do so.

We support the appeal made last Tuesday by Leone Band Club president Dr Michael Caruana. The authorities should keep in mind that this is not a project that will promote the interests of the individual or of a company, but one that will benefit hundreds of Cathedral parishioners who visit their church every day, and thousands of tourists who flock to the Cathedral and the Citadel every week.

This commentator believes that this is another case of two weights and two measures. Recently MEPA gave its full backing to the demolition of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel at the lower end of Republic Street in Victoria.

The Museum Annual Report of 1923-24 (pages II-III) referring to this site documents that "an early burial site, enclosed by large boulders was accidentally discovered on the south side of Strada Corsa... Under about 1 m of the field surface, a circle of boulders, with a diameter of about 9 m was found; the boulders, not in any way squared, measuring about 1 m in diameter. In the middle of the circle, half covered by a large stone slab, was a heap of human bones mixed with fragments of rough clay vessels. The pottery, hopelessly broken, was originally of the usual type of funerary ware of about the fifth century, viz: plates, water jugs, and ointment vessel."

While MEPA gave its backing for excavations in a known archaeological site, it is dragging its feet with regard to the parking application of the Cathedral since it is presumably an archaeological site.

I am in no way hinting that this development should have been stopped, but that the Superintendence should have shown some interest in a known archaeological site while earth removal with heavy machinery was taking place. The Superintendence should equally accede to the Cathedral parking project and scrutinise works continually.

With regard to the Republic Street development, the authorities should have seen that the developers did not ruin the pavement in front of the development as this is used by thousands every day. It was still dangerously broken in many places at the time of writing, even though today and tomorrow several thousands more will be obliged to use this pavement to see Il-Wirja ta' Santa Marija.

The Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, colloquially known as Il-Wirja ta' Santa Marija, celebrates its 150th anniversary today. There will be something like 4,000 exhibits this year and it is definitely worth a visit by all those interested in local products.

To finish on a positive note, visitors to the Cathedral for the feast of Santa Marija will note with satisfaction that a degree of progress has been made in the internal restoration of the Citadel. After some five years of inertia, last Wednesday, workers were putting the finishing touches to the beautifully restored ravelin.

On the same day, the whole place also looked cleaner. The climax of the feast is reached tomorrow evening when the statue of Our Lady is carried in procession around the streets of Victoria and then makes its way back inside the Cathedral under a canopy of a five-star aerial fireworks spectacle.