Restoration starts on statue of St Paul

Work to restore the statue of St Paul on St Paul's Island has started following the erection of scaffolding around the weather-beaten monument.

The restoration is being financed by Vassallo Builders under an agreement with Din l-Art Helwa, the national trust.

DLH spokesman Simone Mizzi said: "The statue suffers adverse environmental conditions and is open to vandalism. It has been looked after by the heritage organisation since 1994.

"The laborious task undertaken by Vassallo Builders, in particular that of conveying and erecting the scaffolding around the statue on the island, is now complete and the conservation process is underway," she said. The process involves studying, documenting and treating the statue. This work will be carried out by a team of qualified and experienced conservator-restorers of metals, ceramics, glass and stone.

"Once again, an important monument, symbolising the nation's Christian heritage, is being saved thanks to the collaboration between Din l-Art Helwa, Nazzareno Vassallo of Vassallo Builders, who has made this work possible, and Heritage Malta expert conservators. Stanley Farrugia Randon, volunteer council member for Din l-Art Helwa coordinates the project," Ms Mizzi said.

The large statue is the work of two sculptors, Sigismondo Dimech (1780-1853) of Valletta and Salvatore Dimech (1805-1887) of Lija. It stands about four metres high and represents St Paul holding a book in his left hand while holding high the right one. At his feet lies the viper which, according to the Acts of the Apostles, came out of the fire and bit his hand. The statue stands on a platform 8.3 metres high, the work of Francesco Spiteri.

It was inaugurated and blessed on September 21, 1845, at 5 p.m. in a ceremony that ended with the firing of cannon shots. In April 1994, two members of the youth section of DLH, Dr Farrugia Randon and Ian Galea, prepared a condition survey for a thorough cleanup of the islands and they noticed that the statue was highly weather-beaten. The left arm was about to fall and the uplifted hand, which was not the original one, had two fingers missing. One of the previous owners of the island said the fingers had been shot off by a hunter.

The left hand was in fact replaced for the Pauline Centenary celebrations and the statue was whitewashed, but vandals got at it again. A marble inscription on the pedestal was smashed and had to be replaced. The altar below the statue was broken and removed.