Some five hundred Carnival festivals have come and gone, a few still enshrined in people’s minds and many others completely forgotten.

Lorry Coleiro is trying to make sure that more of these festivals are remembered and the island’s first carnival museum, which he pioneered, should open its doors by April.

Mr Coleiro has been dreaming about the project for years, saving up enough props and money to be able to give life to his vision. The break only came about in 2007 when he was approached by Viset management and offered space in their waterfront complex.

Since then, he has been working tirelessly on the project for 12 hours a day and transformed a previously mould-infested storeroom into a colourful gallery, immortalising the island’s carnival heritage “before it dies for real”.

“Born in carnival 62 years ago”, the former dockyard steelworker has had time to polish his float-building skills in recent years as a film-set dresser on blockbusters like Munich, Helen of Troy and Julius Caesar.

But he has always had carnival in his blood having “inherited” it from his father, Wenzu, who set up a float company in 1949 and passed away on carnival 50 years later.

With smiling eyes Mr Coleiro recalls that, when he was exchanging his wedding vows, the marriage minister even asked his wife-to-be whether she wanted to marry him in good, in bad ... and in carnival.

Cradled on Vittmi Furjaniżi tal-Gwerra Street, in Floriana – just behind Valletta Waterfront – the museum is a collection of what, according to Mr Coleiro, makes the Maltese carnival “unique”. Costumes from the past 10 carnival editions – up to this year’s celebrations, which kick off tomorrow – line up the first hall. The outfits will be changed from time to time and updated as the years roll by. This hall leads to an audio visual area with a panoramic monitor, stretching across half the room, where a 10-minute film will be screened taking patrons on a journey boasting 500 years of tradition. Next is a walkthrough displaying carnival-related exhibits tracing the history of the carnival of Malta, including what Mr Coleiro considers to be one of the worst tragedies when some 100 children had died in a stampede at Ta’ Ġieżu church, in Valletta, in the 1820s.

The display includes a witness’s account of the tragedy and several other photos.

Possibly the best part of the exhibit follows. After going through a corridor, visitors are thrust into a completely different setting where the tiled floor gives way to rough, grey flooring beneath unpainted walls with cheap-looking neon lights mounted on them vertically. The setting is that of a typical float-workshop, complete with works in progress.Visitors will also be offered a bird’s eye view of the workshop and the making of a carnival float and be able to see the stuff that lies beneath the colourful and ornate exterior that we usually view and admire.

Towering in the centre of the workshop area is a carnival float, set up in three stages, illustrating the building process.

The attention to detail does not stop there.

In fact, a cafeteria within the museum will be serving food traditionally linked to carnival.

When the museum is completed, Mr Coleiro hopes it will be able to host workshop outings for schoolchildren, giving them a taste of float building. He pointed out that some schools used to build their own carnival float in the past.

Beside the hard work put into the project, the museum also milked Mr Coleiro dry financially, having had to fork out every single cent himself. But, in the end, he admits that he is glad his sacrifice will leave a wealthy heritage for others to enjoy.

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