Valletta is a unique city, as we all know. Because of its particular character, it has been anything but easy to adapt to the exigencies of being a modern capital city. One cannot, as in other cities, expand beyond its boundaries simply because the Mount Sceberras peninsula is what it is.
...wishing upon a star would be a better option- Kenneth Zammit Tabona
Hence, the establishment of Floriana in the 17th century and Ħamrun in the 19th, suburbs of Valletta that, over the years, have had to adapt to the waxing and waning fortunes of the capital itself.
Then we have the Three Cities across the Grand Harbour, which lack of easy access has isolated and which still are considered underdeveloped and depressed areas despite their architectural and historical significance. Their renaissance is still in its infancy.
Across the adjacent Marsamxett Harbour we have Sliema, which once was an upmarket summer resort but has changed roles so many times over the years that I would now be stumped to describe what it really represents.
Valletta, however, remains the primus inter pares; the jewel in the crown.
Two cultural measures mentioned in recent budgetary despatches will, if and when realised, make a significant difference to Valletta.
I have already discussed the move of the national collection from the former Admiralty House in South Street to Auberge d’Italie in Merchants Street. I have since been stopped in the street by people who are concerned about what will happen to the South Street building that will become the Parliamentary Secretariat for Tourism and Culture.
The preoccupation of most people is that easy access to one of the most splendiferous of maisons particulaires in our capital may be quashed. Nothing could be further from the truth for this secretariat has always had an open door policy and has for several years hosted art exhibitions on a back-to-back basis.
Therefore, we, the people, will still have full and free access to swan up and down what is possibly the most grandiose double staircase in Malta and gawp at the opulent architectural lines that were designed to seduce the most fastidious of aristocratic knights from mainland Europe to take up residence in Valletta. The staircase itself will be restored to its polychromatic glory through the generous contribution of one of our major banks.
One cannot forget that once the Renzo Piano Parliament is up and running the spaces liberated within the President’s Palace will be vast and should the other offices within the building move out as well then there will be plenty of space to set up dedicated permanent exhibitions for costume, silver, faience, majolica and furniture. This is a project that has been on the cards for several years and, hopefully, will be realised before 2017, when Malta will have the EU presidency and 2018 when, with a bit of luck, Valletta will become European Capital of Culture. There is still plenty to be achieved before then.
Valletta, and Malta as a whole, remains bereft of an auditorium for symphonic music despite the fact that we have had a philharmonic orchestra for many decades that, up to 1997, was an integral part of the Manoel Theatre. At present, while the orchestra can still perform at the Manoel Theatre, most 19th century symphonic works sound as if one stuffed an elephant into a mini minor!
The Manoel is a quintessentially 18th century court theatre and cannot go one being all things to all men. It is essential that an auditorium be designated and what better site would there be for this than the open-air space next to Parliament where Bernard Plattner from Mr Piano’s atelier had told me (and all of Malta and his wife who was watching Bondì+) that an auditorium on the lines of Mr Piano’s Sala della Musica in Parma would be ideal but that “nobody had asked him”!
I do believe that good sense will prevail and that this fundamental requirement will happen, putting Malta on the cultural map by having a dedicated auditorium designed by someone of Mr Piano’s calibre.
The other cultural hole is the lack of a museum of modern and contemporary art. It is a very difficult and complex issue to determine the contemporary from the modern.
The simplistic view would be to gather the works of all defunct artists in one place and those of living artists in another. However, the terms modern and contemporary have variegated meanings and it is not as simple as that.
At present, there is only one room at the Fine Arts in South Street that shows 20th century Maltese art. It remains to be seen whether what is in the reserve collection (far more than what is on show without a doubt) and what still needs to be acquired or, hopefully, bequeathed to the nation by generous donors, can be accommodated at Auberge d’Italie. However, here again, there are various sites that could be ideal to have a separate museum, which would be infinitely preferable.
Then there are the famous Gobelin tapestries for which, at one point in our history, we almost built an air raid shelter for... What better place to house these splendid works of art than the hall of the Sacra Infermeria? Good lighting and some splendid Dutch bronze chandeliers would make both the architectural wonder of the soi-disant MCC, with its longest unsupported hall in Europe, and the tapestries themselves look like a zillion dollars. But I do tend to dream, don’t I? Perhaps wishing upon a star would be a better option.
kzt@onvol.net
The author is president of the recently-formed Friends of the National Museum of Fine Arts.