Uphill struggle to protect our heritage

I refer to George Portelli’s letter (May 17) on the loss of an important piece of maritime heritage in our Grand Harbour. Mr Portelli questions the duties and responsibilities of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage on what it seems is the latter’s lack of interest in saving the famous landing area in front of the Customs House at Lascaris.

I sympathise with Mr Portelli, for ultimately, any damage to our heritage is an irreversible loss. However, I would like to point out that the situation may be beyond the control of the Superintendent. For all I know, it could be that his hands are tied by the forces that rule the country.

Some years ago I met the Superintendent to discuss the possibility of having the wreck of X127 conserved and protected from any damage that may arise during the Lazzaretto restoration and the planned yacht marina. The wreck is a unique jewel, a 1915 water X-Lighter, and she is the only one that remains of her kind in the whole world.

Thankfully, the Superintendent did a great job to secure her protection. It took a long wait to see that happen though; but eventually we saw the fruit of his effort, as just a few months ago, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority issued a protection order on the government gazette.

During one meeting, I remember clearly the Superintendent’s worries on the countless heritage sites that are at risk, primarily for the sake of progress rather than the state they are in. Although he and his small team do their utmost to try to save each and every one of such sites, it is not possible to always have it their own way. I imagine that sometimes, it’s a give and take which sees a lot of bureaucracy and red tape in between, especially when it comes to funding a restoration or enforcing protection of heritage sites.

In our case, for the protection of X127, some friends of mine and I raised awareness campaigns, created a Facebook support group and wrote countless letters to newspapers and people in authority, to see to it that the X127 remains with us for a long time to come. But one has to keep up with current development affairs in order to ring the bells in time! It is useless to cry over spilt milk, because with heritage sites, when the damage is done, there’s no return.