Shooting stars

If you were to look into your photo album you will probably come across a picture of yourself sitting astride a bronze cannon.

The abrasions caused by these 'photographic sessions' coupled with pollution have eaten away at bronze cannon at an alarming rate, Kenneth Gambin, head curator at Heritage Malta said.

Four of the 13 bronze cannon that survive on the island were rescued from this maligned environment in 1997 and are exhibited and preserved at the Armoury in Valletta and the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa.

"The two at the main Guard (now Palace Square) in Valletta had been hit countless times by drivers who parked their car there.

"The other two at Great Siege Square, in front of the law courts also in Valletta were subjected to the most ignoble treatment including micturition by cats and dogs and endless bird droppings all of which caused irreparable damage.

"As if that were not enough, workmen used to shape metal bars on the barrel of one of the cannon and used it also as a hammering block!

One of the cannon in front of Auberge de Castille was rolled down the stairs during a political manifestation in the late 1980s.

"This idea to remove these cannon from public places has been on the cards for years but this is not simply a matter of bringing them in and storing them.

"They have to be studied, cleaned, conserved and exhibited so that they remain accessible to the public," Mr Gambin said.

The other nine were two each by the Auberge de Castille and St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, two each outside the Mdina Cathedral and the Cathedral in Victoria and one in Floriana by the statue of Grand Master Vilhena.

Significantly the first cannon to be removed were those in front of Auberge de Castile and St John's to relay a strong message that such important cultural artefacts have to be safeguarded for future generations. The removal of the cannon was done with the assistance of the army.

Emmanuel Magro Conti, senior curator of the Maritime and Military Section of Heritage Malta noted that the inventory compiled by the Knights of St John before they left the island in 1797 listed 660 bronze cannon.

A number of these were taken by the French to the Nile campaign and the first inventory by the British showed around 600 cannon.

Some of these cannon were melted to be re-cast as cannon or as bells: Three were given to the Nadur parish to be melted for the making of church bells.

On the other hand, the massive Turkish Basilisk cannon, a souvenir of the 1565 siege which was made up of three or four parts was melted to make the bells for St John's Co-Cathedral.

"The marvellous thing about bronze cannon is that each is a document in itself showing the donor, the maker and why the cannon was made.

"This detail is enhanced by the unique intricate artistic markings and coats of arms that are in themselves, masterpieces of the gun founder's art.

"For example, the inscription on a Saker cannon, now at the Maritime Museum, shows that the weapon was funded from money derived from the Lascaris Foundation which was established by Grand Master Lascaris specifically for the provision of armaments for galleys," Mr Magro Conti said.

Underscoring how such data is worn out by abrasions and pollution, Mr Magro Conti said that on the side and underside of the cannon, one can feel the fine feathers on the double headed eagle motif that runs round the barrel while on the top part the design is practically obliterated.

While ordinarily a bronze cannon could weigh anything between 1.5 and three tons, there were guns that weighed five tons. They ranged in size from 3.8 to 6.3 metres.

The majority of the cannon which were made of iron lasted for about three years while the bronze cannon lasted for hundreds of years.

The demise of bronze cannon started when the French and the British embarked on a standardisation exercise towards the mid 19th century, cast iron finding greater favour than bronze due to more modern casting technology and costs.

The rapid decline continued when the Royal Armoury of the Tower of London directed officials to send back to Britain any cannon they thought had a historic or artistic value.

These developments depleted Malta of its bronze cannon except for 14 portable cannon and mortars. It was Governor General Sir John Lintorn Simmons who on a ruse to upgrade military landmarks asked the British government in 1888 to send him some bronze cannon.

The real reason for such a request was that Sir John was a cultured man coupled with the pressure put on him by the Maltese political class to recoup some of these treasures.

The armoury has another bronze cannon that was found on the seabed in Marsaxlokk in the 1960s.

"The policy at Heritage Malta is to search for all the iron cannon may have somehow ended up in scrap yards and other unseemly places, clean and conserve them and add them to the collection," Mr Magro Conti said.

The ultimate aim, however, is not to store them away out of sight for the sake of increasing the collection. Given the right conditions, they can be displayed once again where they make historical and cultural sense - on fortifications.