Knights had reported find in 2008

The government had been notified of the find of human remains in the basement of Casa Lanfreducci in 2008, according to the Knights of Malta.

The basement of the Valletta house, previously known as Casa Cassar, is slated to serve as backstage facility for the reinvented ruins of the Royal Opera House.

The government has come under heavy fire over the project from NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, which says the remains, found a few years ago, date back to the time of the Great Siege of 1565 and are proof the basement was an extension of the crypt of the adjacent church of Our Lady of Victory, Valletta’s first building.

The Infrastructure Ministry had then charged that whoever found the remains had broken the law by not reporting them to the authorities, to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage in particular.

The Malta Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta said it was “deeply troubled” by this statement (see the association’s letter to the editor on page 10).

Letters seen by The Times show that, as early as 2008, the Chief Government Medical Officer, the Archbishop’s Curia and, later, the Resources Ministry were notified of the find, when the Knights sought permission to transfer the bones to the crypt.

On August 8, 2008, healthcare director general Ray Busuttil wrote back granting permission, pending approval from the Curia and the police.

The Office of The Prime Minister was also informed of the find by the Curia, which is partly responsible for the church, and, on October 15, Bishop Annetto Depasquale wrote to the rder saying the Archbishop found no objection in transferring the remains.

The project of moving the bones once they are preserved – which has not happened yet – was, however, shelved and then it was time for a change in the Malta association’s leadership.

In 2009, the association also wrote to Chris Ciantar, permanent secretary at the Resources Ministry, who, on March 26, replied that the matter should have been referred to the superintendence. The latter, however, only came to know of the find last week, according to superintendent Anthony Pace.

In hindsight, the Knights admit they should have contacted the superintendence immediately but they resent being seen as “cowboys” with no respect for the law.

“Now we realise we should have contacted the superintendence and not these authorities but we were not trying to keep it hidden,” Daniel de Petri Testaferrata, chancellor of the association, said.

Before falling in the hands of the Knights, the basement of Casa Cassar was previously used as a restaurant and a barber shop.

The president of the Malta Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Philip Farrugia Randon recounts that when the knights went about their work on the basement after having finished the building of Casa Lanfreducci, which now houses the association’s headquarters, the place was in total disarray. Casa Lanfreducci was completed in the 1990s according to old plans and the place was in total ruins before the knights took over.

The order also categorically denied it carried out any rock cutting in the area of the basement’s floor, a point the ministry had used as criticism.

Asked who had put the remains in the pasticceria assortita (assorted pastries) boxes, Dr Farrugia Randon said he could not say exactly as this had happened before he became president but that the choice of container was regrettable.

The basement is closed off as the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is carrying out investigations on site.

The knights’ remains

The main reason NGOs are objecting to the basement being used as backstage facilities is that the basement might have once been used as a burial ground.

There is “no doubt” the basement and the crypt are connected, according to forensic expert Anthony Abela Medici, who was asked to examine the remains found in the crypt at the church of Our Lady of Victories.

Dr Abela Medici became involved in late 2008 when a displaced marble slab close to the confessional on the right hand side of the church revealed a forgotten staircase that led to a crypt. “It transpires the church was expanded in 1699, as the inscription on a plaque indicates, and it appears the entrance to the crypt was built over when it was expanded,” Dr Abela Medici said.

The crypt, according to the forensic expert, is still full of rubble but it contains some human remains and an elevated stone sarcophagus.

Even though he did not examine the bones forensically, as this required, among other things, permission from the health authorities, their fragility and the “well documented fact that the crypt was used to bury (Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette) before he was moved to St John’s Co-Cathedral” led the expert to say it was “plausible” the remains in the crypt and those found in Casa Lanfreducci’s basement dated to the time of the knights.

The two areas are connected by means of a doorway, around 60cm wide, which was barred the last time Dr Abela Medici saw it.

“It appears the area was closed in 1699 so it is plausible the bones predate that period. It is well documented that the remains of de Valette had been transferred to the church before St John’s was built. The fragility of the bones would be commensurate with the same period.”

Dr Abela Medici said when he had examined the basement of Casa Cassar, he found levels where the ground had been dug out. At that stage, he recommended the authorities be informed and, to date, he has not studied the bones in question.

“I am speaking out now because I want to draw attention to the fact that it is quite possible they came from that period and that their find should be investigated properly.”