Works to start on Sette Giugno monument
Restorers engaged by the Valletta Rehabilitation Project have inspected the Sette Giugno monument and restoration and repair works are due to start in the coming weeks, Resources Minister George Pullicino has said in Parliament.
The monument is being kept in the stores of the Works Department.
It was removed from Palace Square last year and is expected to occupy a site close to the new parliament once it is built on Freedom Square.
13 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Andrew Agius
Mar 12th 2010, 10:24
In freedom square, we should build a huge monument in honor of Jean Parisot de la Valette, the man behind the city! This man built the city and this is the least that we should do to honor his name. Presently i don't think there is one in the city, which is a shame!!
CVella
Mar 12th 2010, 18:26
It's going to get very crowded in that square if all the people's wishes are to be accommodated. What with the monuments to La Valette, to Mintoff, to Borg Olivier, and to Sette Giugno, fountains, benches, a park with a cafe', an open air garden with shrubs and low trees, a contemporary opera house, a reproduction of Barry's opera house with an opera house inside it, a reproduction of Barry's opera house encasing a shopping mall, a contemporary shopping mall, an enclosed theatre, an open air theatre, a concert hall, a people's square (sic), a garden, a cultural centre, a library, an exhibition centre, a permanent exhibition, a contemporary art musuem, a car park, etc. Let the people decide. And then watch the fur and feathers fly.
Charles Caligari Conti
Mar 12th 2010, 09:42
May I suggest that we house parliament in the buildings opposite the Theatre. The Whole block can be brought by government and refurbished to high standards (most of the block houses the Social Policy Department and belongs to the Government anyway). The Architecture of the building is beautiful.
Anthony Pace Gouder
Mar 12th 2010, 09:06
@ Joseph Grech ------------------- Its not just a matter of SPACE . Reading between the lines ," it is to occupy a site (?) close to ....." one can realize that the exact location is still unknown ! Probably Maestro Piano is working on it , right now !
If ever this had been decided , surely Dr. Gonzi himself would have made a "lightning" Press Conference !
Hopefully by APRIL FOOL's DAY, there will be an announcement !
Joe Xuereb
Mar 12th 2010, 08:24
Whatever Gonzi says, Gonzi goes. Politics is a dirty word and Maltese politics particularly so. This will continue to be so as long as the electorate refuses to mature, preferring instead to remain blindly partisan.
@ Raymond Sammut. Are you saying that the monument should never have been conceived because it represents an event that did not happen as we are lead to believe?
Carmel Garcia
Mar 12th 2010, 07:48
I agree with Joseph Grech about the Parliament House. I suggest that the parliament will go in Fort St Elmo and Fredom Square will be turned into a open air garden with shrubs and low trees were we the people can have some good time. Why are we so hard headed? Our money should go elsewhere say to help those in need no thrown away to accomodate 65 members of parliament.
Raymond Sammut
Mar 12th 2010, 02:39
This "monument" is a misrepresentation of history. It should be said that 3 and not 4 died on June 7, 1919, and one of these 3 had not been involved. He died from stray shrapnel after a shot was fired to disperse the mob wrecking the Chronicle in Old Theatre Street. The fourth one was also not involved in the riots. He was injured a day later while resisting arrest near Francia's residence in Strada Reale. He died much later in hospital (Jun16). The other two died in Old Baker Street after being hit by bullets not fired under orders and fired by soldiers under extreme conditions on the street.
The "monument" is a charade and a travesty because rumours and the violence by rioters had undoubtedly been instigated by Mussolini sympathizers based in Valletta. It is worthy of note that Mussolini won power in Italy by a coup d'état just three years following this debacle. Responsible government in Malta has at the least a moral obligation to decommission this so-called "monument". It brings immediate disgust to anyone who reads objectively about the facts that took place in Valletta during a difficult period for Malta immediately following WWI.
lgalea
Mar 12th 2010, 08:43
The disgust is about those who seek to diminish the importance of the historical event and the Maltese uprising against the British colonialists and the dire situation that the people were in with mass unemployment and poverty while the rich were happy with the situation. Reminds me of "let them eat cake".
J Martinelli
Mar 11th 2010, 21:53
@ Joseph Grech
It will not be choked by parked cars.
lgalea
Mar 11th 2010, 20:46
The monument belongs to St Georges Square where one of the Maltese patriots fell under the British bayonets and fire. The PN Government wanted to put the monument away out of spite because ti was made by a PL Government. The PN never wanted the masses to be remembered and also wanted to make Malta a province of Italy so a monument that commemorates an uprising by the masses against their colonizers was never favoured by the PN foreigners lackeys and leccaculi. These are the real reasons why the monument was put away.
Gerard Cassar
Mar 11th 2010, 20:17
Whatever Gonzi says Parliament instead of Freedom square should be built on the site of the Main Guard, Thus the 7 Gunju Monument place is where it was so near to the new parliament site.
Joseph Grech
Mar 11th 2010, 17:15
Excuse me...but WILL there be enough space left in what will remain of Freedom Square after the Parliamentary Building and Ancillary Offices Building are built?
This is a fine, big work of art by one of Malta's foremost artists...it needs SPACE to be really appreciated.
I really wonder if such space will be available once the two blocks are built - why not scrap this part of the Renzo Piano project - as the Maltese are demanding?
We can site Parliament elsewhere and save Millions to be used on projects that are much needed.
The Hon. P.M. surely cannot decide such important issues in a vacuum. We are not too late to act in the real interests of our capital city....Why should hardheadedness win the day?
Noel Cutajar
Mar 11th 2010, 16:36
Why restore the monument in the coming weeks when there is no place yet for it? It will take more than a few weeks to build the new parliament and this would only mean that the monument would be long forgotten. Shame!!