Preservation of bronze monuments

I refer to the article Great Siege Monuments Gets Overdue Face­lift (September 4). It is very satisfying to note that this important monument is finally being professionally conserved and that this project is sponsored by the private sector.

The article quotes James Licari as saying that, in the past, the monument was subject to “water and cleaning agents”. In the 20 years in which I was responsible for the Valletta Rehabilitation Project water was used once a year prior to the September 8 commemoration ceremony. The water was not applied with any pressure so no damage was caused to the bronze. No cleaning agents were ever used.

There was only one time when some kind of cleaning agent was used and that was by the local council in cleaning it prior to the June 7 concert. When this was pointed out to VRP at the time, we stopped them from continuing.

I have to note that this error on the part of Mr Licari was already pointed out to him quite some days ago when the same comment was made on PBS. It is a pity he chose not to correct his version.

VRP used to do everything possible to ensure that such monuments were protected and conserved in the best possible way. All major bronze monuments were seen to and on two occasions (from the façade of St John’s Co-Cathedral and Our Lady of Victory church) these were taken to museums and copies made for their better protection.