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I read the article ‘De Valette sword to be returned ...on loan’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, April 28). It says the Louvre Museum in Paris, will, as a goodwill gesture, temporarily return the famed ceremonial sword and dagger to Malta in 2018 when the Maltese capital takes on the designation of ‘European Culture Capital’.

Sadly, the Louvre Museum expects this to just be a loaning of the sword and dagger. I believe the items should be returned to Malta permanently and possibly even from this year. There is no sense in waiting five years. I know of people who stand in line for hours waiting to see exhibits at the Louvre. Unfortunately, with such enormous crowds many are turned away. The sword and dagger were plundered from Malta and should be returned to Malta, forever.

The long, richly-decorated, and beautifully crafted ceremonial sword along with the smaller poniard (lightweight thrusting knife) were both given to Grand Master De Valette in the year 1565 by the Holy Roman Emperor, Philip II of Spain.

Napoleon Bonaparte captured the sword and the poniard in 1798 from the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta in 1798 when the order was at a low ebb and nearly annihilated. This was largely due to the Order’s rule for its knights to not raise weapons against other Christians.

Napoleon exploited that weakness and conquered and plundered the possessions of the island and forced the knights into a nomadic exile.

The handcrafted ceremonial sword was made for La Valette and it represents his valour and the courage of all the brave knights who stood by him against Suleiman the Magnificent in battle – not in battles on French soil but in battles in Malta.

Blood was shed to achieve it. De Valette’s forces repelled an overwhelming force of troops from the Ottoman Empire. If Malta had fallen all of Europe would have been vulnerable to Muslim conversion by another type of sword – the scimitar.

In France the special De Valette sword is just another trinket and often overlooked. In Malta, its prized heritage would stand out and represent the victorious fortress that perhaps saved and preserved Christianity’s presence for all of Europe.

The permanent repository of De Valette’s ceremonial sword and dagger should be in the city that bears his name, Valletta, inside the Co-Cathedral in a securely guarded display vault; and it should stay there – forever.