The façades of historic buildings within Victoria’s Citadel are to get a facelift, months after the embellishment of the bastions. A €400,000 contract has been awarded for the restoration of the façades of Gozo’s law courts, Governor’s Palace, Old Prison, National History and Folklore museums, among others. All are located within the Citadel in Gozo.
With the exception of the Folklore Museum, none of the other façades have been restored before. The project is expected to be completed within a year.
“Maintenance works have been carried out on many occasions, however no attention was given to the materials used and the restoration methods as we understand today,” a spokesperson for the Gozo Ministry told this newspaper.
The oldest structure being restored is part of an Arab-influenced arched passageway known as sikifah.
It is probably one of the oldest features within the Citadel and may date to the late medieval period.
The other structures also date back hundreds of years.
The façade of the Folklore Museum is made up of three interconnected houses dating to the early 1500s, while the Governor’s Palace was built during the reign of Grand Master Wignacourt (1601-1622). The present Law Courts date to 1687, the spokesperson noted.
The Governor’s palace, the Law Courts and the Old prisons were built purposely in the 17th century and to date the Law Courts and the Governor’s Palace still house the Gozo Law Courts. The prison is now a museum.
“Interestingly, before he became a Grand Master, La Valette was imprisoned in Gozo for some time, though it is very doubtful that the original prison still exists.”
The Folklore and the Natural Science Museums are housed in domestic units that were joined together.
Some of these structures were abandoned when people started moving out of the Citadel in search of more spacious dwellings.
Other buildings were temporarily used to rear animals until they were taken over by the government and opened as museums.
The structures suffered considerable erosion from wind, rain and sea spray.
The project also includes the restoration of the façade and side of the St Joseph chapel built in 1625 and the lower part and a side wall of the St Mary’s Cathedral built on the design of Lorenzo Gafà between 1697 and 1711.
The façade of the vestry and the Chapter hall overlooking Cathedral Square are also being restored as part of the tender.
This project forms part of an EU co-funded project.
About 85 per cent of the money comes from the EU, while the rest are local funds.
The full round of the Citadel bastions were recently restored through another EU co-funded project.
This included the restoration of the fortification walls, which were in urgent need of repair and restoration, as well as consolidation of the underlying bedrock which was posing a threat to the stability of the fortifications.