The gaffe on Ggantija

A few months ago, we were entertained by an out-of-season taunting. On October 14 The Times in a back page report declared: "Ggantija Temples restored". The other English-language daily placed the important news on the front page. The temples' restoration was also reported by the Maltese-language dailies and the news was given ample coverage on local TV the previous evening.

UNESCO has long declared the Ggantija Temples as a World Heritage Site and the Guinness Book of Records acknowledges them as the oldest man-made "free-standing structure in the world. The coverage on the restoration was justified.

"Restoration works at Ggantija Temples have been completed," the report in The Times stated, quoting a government press release. I said to myself: the Lm100,000 that were voted in the Budget last year for the temples must have been well spent.

As soon as I read the news, I drove to Ggantija expecting a state-of-the-art entrance to the Temples similar to the one at Hal Saflieni complex in Tarxien. I looked forward to seeing an audio-visual presentation on the temple builders and their times.

I hoped to see the unsightly tarmac road running along the temples' perimeter removed and the surrounding area returned to natural garigue. I presumed that the souvenir shop close to the temples had been relocated to the entrance hall. I expected that the ugly keepers' office and public conveniences had become a thing of the past. I hoped to see the temple walls free of rusting scaffolding and dreadful concrete-block supports.

I saw none of all this. The restoration, I discovered after enquiries, had concentrated on an outer wall of the south temple which had collapsed after an unusually heavy downpour in September 2003: a five-metre square gap had been patched up.

Admittedly, the job was urgent. Any further delay would have led to water seeping into the gravel between the stone blocks and the walls would have deteriorated further. It seems that more studies are needed for the collapsed wall to be permanently restored.

The job has been done well. It was also the best solution given the urgency. But we should call a spade a spade. These works were carried out under the auspices of the Ministry for Gozo after Lm36,000 were obtained from the EU Solidarity Funds for the purpose.

The same fund also financed a three-dimensional survey carried out by the Gozo Ministry. This detailed survey, the first of its kind in Malta, as it included the whole temple structure, cost around Lm16,500. It was unveiled earlier last year in the presence of Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono and Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

In the meantime, Heritage Malta, which manages the temples, has announced that Hagar Qim and Mnajdra are next up for restoration. There is little doubt that these two temples in Malta are equally in need of restoration and preservation. It is envisaged that a huge tent will be erected over the temples to preserve them from further ruin.

This protective tent is also urgently needed at Ggantija. It is hoped that something is also done for the Gozo site without further delay. Heritage Malta already has a huge problem on its hands with so many sites under its care in Malta. Would it not perhaps be wise for this government agency to consider transferring the management of the Gozo sites to a sub-agency under the Gozo Ministry's responsibility? The ministry would hopefully would tackle the project with more urgency.

The long-promised temporary visitors' centre should also be built without further delay. It is a pity that the Lm100,000 voted in the Budget for the Ggantija Temples last year has not been spent.

It is a pleasure to learn that Heritage Malta is finally refurbishing the Gozo Museum of Archaeology. Security showcases are to be installed in the museum so that the remains unearthed from the Gozo Stone Circle at Xaghra can be brought to Gozo. Minister Debono has long been insisting on the return of this heritage to Gozo.

It is hoped that the move, which Heritage Malta had promised to carry out by the end of last year, will not take much longer.