Recently George Vella (PL) spoke in Parliament about the need for a National Portrait Gallery. The context was that education should not be just about textbooks, but that our students require basic general knowledge including an awareness about Maltese compatriots who excelled in some area or other. The gallery would therefore have portraits of people such as the late Charles Camilleri for instance, Anton Agius, and others who gave distinguished service to our country. Dr Vella thus urged the government to set up a such a gallery.

I heard at least one minister and parliamentary secretary say that Malta already has a national portrait gallery. None of my friends in the art circle knew about it when I asked them. So I googled National Portrait Gallery Malta, and up came the website (www.npgmalta.com). No wonder none of my colleagues had heard about it. Our "National Portrait Gallery" consists of eleven easels in a semi-circle and on them, what look like amateurish coloured-chalk drawings of Maltese Prime Ministers, just like in a Turkish bazaar, but with a desk in the middle. I was gob-smacked. To add to my astonishment there is also a photograph of the Prime Minister admiring these oeuvres.

I thought of other people who don't know Malta logging on to this site with the title National Portrait Gallery Malta, and seeing this... well, I'd better not comment further.

These visitors would surely think that Malta is some backwater where people live in a primitive state, if they accept this joke as their national portrait gallery. Nowhere on the site is there an indication of where the "national portrait gallery of Malta" is located, and this continues to show how tacky it all is. What it does say is that the "national portrait gallery of Malta" will soon be moved to Mosta. Where from? Where does the tourist, or the Maltese citizen wanting to see these "national portraits" go today?

One also finds a title: "exhibitions". That's what a tourist interested in this kind of thing would surely click on before visiting Malta. And what do you get? "Upcoming exhibitions: coming soon" written twice over and a blank. Thank you very much.

I am sure someone will now write in to say that the "national portrait gallery" is still in its early stages. But then no minister should be saying that Malta has a national portrait gallery because it hasn't; and those keen to launch the website should have waited until they had some decent portraits and a proper venue. They are using the name "National Portrait Gallery of Malta", after all. For the sake of not causing us further embarrassment, whoever is responsible should remove the website which is exposing us all to ridicule.

We need to have a national portrait gallery just as much as we need to have a gallery for contemporary art. Why does the government keep dragging its feet on both?

I have personally spoken to the Culture Minister about this state of things. There are many unused buildings suitable to house art galleries, and a considerable number of good painters and sculptors willing to exhibit their work.

Why is it that no proper action has been taken, and when something was done, it had to be as prosaic as this pseudo national portrait gallery? It is a pity that the Prime Minister chose to honour such mediocrity with his presence, while not responding to the pleas of committed artists when they demand a contemporary art gallery, and of serious politicians when they suggest the setting up of a national portrait gallery.