Tuesday, 30th September 2008 - 09:01CET

Controversial museum extension plans to be put on display

The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation is to hold an exhibition of its controversial plans to extend the co-cathedral museum.

The exhibition will include the outline plans and photographs of the proposed project.

MEPA recently agreed to draft the terms of reference for an independent environment impact assessment to be carried out on the proposals submitted by the Foundation.

The exhibition will be held in the Loggia at St John’s Co-Cathedral on Republic Street. as from Friday 3rd October. Entrance will be free of charge. Opening times will be Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm and Saturday from 9.30am to 12.30pm.

The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation was established by the Catholic Church and the State in 2001 to administer the co-Cathedral and the adjoining building as a place of divine worship as well as a monument of great historical, artistic, architectural and cultural value.

"With cultural tourism on the rise, St John’s Co-Cathedral has become the most visited site on the Maltese islands. The foundation has recognised the need to extend the museum to make the appropriate space for the vast range of artefacts that adorn the Co-Cathedral, including the world unique set of 29 pieces of Flemish tapestries, and at the same time enhance their presentation in order to offer an informative, educational and cultural experience that can be enjoyed by all visitors," the foundation said.

"The foundation is aware that one cannot assume that visitors share the knowledge of the history of the Catholic faith. This has consequences for the way in which the museum communicates its story to the public. This is one of the important reasons for the reorganisation of the exhibits at St John’s. The way visitors prefer to look at, listen to and learn about cultural, particularly religious, heritage have also changed radically. For this reason the museum displays will be adapted to meet the requirements of the modern visitor.

"The re-designed museum will be fully equipped to meet the expectations of today’s museum visitor. However, a main aim of the proposed project is to relieve the Co-Cathedral itself, as a place of worship, of the enormous pressure that it is undergoing as a result of the thousands of daily visitors who wish to see and admire its exceptional treasures."

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Sunday, November 8, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

James A. Tyrrell (on 30/9/08)

Personally I find the term 'independent environment impact assessment' to be a bit of a joke, or it would be were it not such a serious issue. How can any such assessment be deemed to be independent when the persons carrying it out are bought and paid for by the foundation? How many EIA's paid for by developers have reached a decision, which goes against the wishes of the developer? What will be different in this case?

Alfred Zahra de Domenico (on 30/9/08)

This is a positive move. Well done. I now hope that the plans will show us all underutilised spaces within the complex that is St. John's; that the sacrality of the graveyard will not be violated by turning it into a magnificent atrium housing lifts, ticketing booths, souvenir shops, a coffee shop etc.; that no digging is being undertaken beneath or within the precincts of St. John's. I hope that space will also be found to exhibit the photographs of the damage in the Co-Cathedral's cript due to digging in St. Lucia street.