Artists were in “shock” yesterday at the news that the Government was ditching plans to move the National Museum of Fine Arts out of its present inadequate location, against the advice of Tate experts.

The Government has confirmed its decision to keep the arts museum at Admiralty House in South Street rather than move it to the bigger and more central Auberge d’Italie, in Merchants Street.

The move, planned by the previous government, was meant to see the Tourism Ministry and Malta Tourism Authority being transferred Admiralty House and other properties in Old Mint Street.

The Auberge d’Italie project is in the V18 bid book. Are we saying that bid book does not count anymore?

However, a spokesman for the present Tourism Ministry told Times of Malta that the premises earmarked were not big enough to accommodate its offices.

He also said that “no funds had actually been provided for the project”. However, according to the budget estimates of 2011 and 2012, some €400,000 was allocated for the move. An additional €200,000 was spent on art acquisitions with the new venue in mind.

Times of Malta also asked whether the Government was looking for an alternative but no reply was given on this point.

People in the arts community described the decision as a “blow to culture”.

“We cannot promote Valletta as European Culture City of 2018 without a proper national museum,” said artist Vince Briffa. “The Auberge d’Italie project is in the V18 bid book. Are we saying that bid book does not count anymore?” he said, adding that the Government’s electoral programme also mentioned a museum of modern art. He said Tate experts had advised the previous government against investing in refurbishing Admiralty House as a museum because of accessibility and space problems which would necessitate a bigger expenditure.

“We risk having a National Museum which is not up to European standards. Is this a priority project for the Government?” asked Mr Briffa.

Artist Raphael Vella said the news that the move was being ditched came as a “shock to many of us”. He pointed out that the new location would have had far more space in which to exhibit Maltese masterpieces, most of which currently had to be stored in a warehouse.

The artistic community, he said, had considered the new location as “a symbolical move” and a step in the right direction for the recognition of art in Malta.

“The current Admiralty House is a beautiful building but too small for a national museum. Many works are in the reserve collection and whole chunks of history are not represented on its walls. The Auberge d’Italie offers triple the amount of wall space than the current museum has,” Dr Vella said.

The move had been in the pipeline for over two years and in fact the museum’s back office – including the library and the curator’s office – had already moved to Auberge d’ Italie.

The new arts museum would have been at the centre of a cultural area, including Pjazza Teatru Rjal, St James Cavalier and the new square, where extensions of the museum’s temporary exhibitions could be shown.

A petition against this decision has started doing the rounds online, and, according to Dr Vella, many artists of all generations and art students “are very unhappy with this decision”.

“I’m quite sure they will work to revert this political decision. I know there are already plans for concrete action in this regard.”

Theatre director Chris Gatt wrote on Facebook: “If we let the Ministry of Tourism and culture get away with this then we continue to deserve what we get and politicians will continue to occupy the space belonging to the artist.”

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