UK donation for Mosta church

A British charity organisation has donated Lm4,000 to the Mosta church in a bid to restore and protect the parvis.

David Blakeman and Humbert Mozzi, directors of the NGO Monuments at Risk Restoration Fund, said they had no second thoughts about donating the money to Malta.

"The Mosta church represents one of the many glories of Malta and of Maltese churches. It is symbolic with the war and the British links with Malta," Mr Blakeman said.

It was Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando who came out with the initiative to plough the funds into Mosta church, especially after the odd act of vandalism. The MP recently presented the donation to Archpriest Mario Tong.

The church is also known as the Rotunda of Our Lady of the Assumption. On April 9, 1942, the church was almost destroyed during the German bombing. An Axis bomb pierced the dome of the church but failed to explode. The dome is known to be one of the largest in the world.

Mr Blakeman lauded the rich history clogging the island, but warned against the neglect which could relegate several buildings to a state of disrepair.

"Malta deserves investment in these buildings," Mr Mozzi said, confirming that this could be the first of a number of initiatives.