A national project for all Maltese, present and future (3)

It is ironic that while letters appear daily as to whether the Royal Opera House should be restored to its former grandeur at the entrance to our capital city, The Times carried a centre-page feature (July 13) on the meticulous restoration works being carried out on the baroque chapel dedicated to St Anthony of Padua at Fort Manoel. Both sites suffered extensive damage through enemy action during World War II.

Whereas the chapel had the good fortune of being restored as faithfully as possible to its pristine state after years of neglect and months of painstaking research by Midi plc, which commissioned two leading local architects to do the job, not the same can be said for the site of the old Royal Opera House. In this case fate decided otherwise and minimal intervention has been suggested. I should think that this is the result of the brief given to the renowned architect commissioned by the government.

It is more surprising when one realises that the private consortium that is carrying out the Manoel Island project decided in favour of a restoration process rather than building another chapel whereas the government opted for a modern building for both the old opera house and Parliament at the very entrance to our capital.

It has often been said that Barry's opera house did not blend with the baroque environment. One wonders whether this option was made because the Royal Opera House had not been built by the Knights.

I, for one, would like to hear the views of the two able architects commissioned to supervise the restoration of the Fort Manoel chapel about the government's decision not to rebuild the former opera house to its original plan, at least the exterior, as was done with other famous theatres in Italy which had also suffered considerable damage.

Finally, hats off to the administration for the fine piece of public relations.

This time it made sure that not one dissenting voice was heard over the media. All people or entities that could sway public opinion were roped in but, as the saying goes, you can take a horse to the water but you cannot make it drink.