La Valette’s sword and dagger at the Louvre Museum in Paris.La Valette’s sword and dagger at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The famed sword and dagger belonging to Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette will be loaned to Malta by the Louvre Museum when Valletta takes on the title of European Capital of Culture in 2018, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.

The telltale sign that the Government was discussing the sword with its French counterpart came from an official photo of Wednesday’s meeting between Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and French President François Hollande.

In the picture, an aide on the French side can be seen leafing through a document, which, on closer inspection, reveals a photo showing the sword’s gilded and diamond-studded hilt.

The Office of the Prime Minister would not comment when asked whether it was negotiating the surrender of the sword, a long-standing request by different Maltese administrations.

However, sources in the diplomatic circuit said the French Government had accepted in principle to release the sword and its accompanying dagger for 2018 when Valletta will be crowned European Capital of Culture.

The sword has an emotional place in Maltese collective memory, having been given to the Grand Master by King Philippe II of Spain for his leadership in battle during the Great Siege of 1565.

There were several calls over the years for the sword to be returned and in 2011 a Facebook petition calling for the sword’s return gathered several thousand signatories.

It eventually ended up at the Louvre, in Paris, after it was taken by the French during the occupation of 1798. It is said that Napoleon Bonaparte was particularly fond of the dagger and carried it around as a talisman. In his will of 1821, he left the weapons to his son and they were eventually presented to the Louvre in 1840. They have never left Paris since.

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