Updated: Hagar Qim visitors' centre will have 'major visual impact'

(Heritage Malta comments added)

The Visitors’ Centre being built near Hagar Qim temples is an example of poor planning which will have a major, negative impact on the temples, the Labour spokesman on planning, Roderick Galdes, said today.

Referring to recent newspaper reports, Mr Galdes said the need for a visitors’ centre was not in doubt, but it was unacceptable that aesthetics “were not taken into consideration.

He regretted the fact that alternatives were discounted, and said MEPA and Heritage Malta needed to explain could they would mitigate the visual impact of this project.

In a reaction to this statement, Heritage Malta said that the project evolved over a number of years and the design, and design philosophy, being implemented were by architect Walter Hunziker of Berne, Switzerland. One of the fundamental characteristics of this design was that it made no attempt to copy the materials or forms of the megalithic remains, in order to underline the contrast between the permanence of the monuments and the ephemeral insertions of the present day.

Regarding the visual impact of the building, Heritage Malta said that no rock-cutting was permitted on site. Approval for some very minimal rock-cutting was obtained from the relevant authorities, in order to ensure that the building does not rise higher than the apparent horizon when observed from Ħaġar Qim.

The final design was therefore a careful balance between physical and visual impact. The building wasat its most visible when approaching the car park. To a viewer at Ħaġar Qim, the building had a much lower profile than the existing restaurant. As one began to proceed towards Mnajdra, the building disappeared completely from view.