In reference to Fr Mark Cauchi’s plea (The Sunday Times of Malta, March 15) regarding the old street name of Rue de l’Egalité (not Liberté) in Valletta, may I share the good news that action is finally being taken after 217 years by the conservation and culture authorities to properly preserve it, as it forms part of our heritage.

Valletta’s street names were changed on July 6, 1798 by the Maltese Commission of Government during the French period and Strada Tesoreria (today’s Old Treasury Street) was renamed Strad’Ugualianza, its visual presence now rapidly fading under the last arch nearest to the Palace.

Palace Square was renamed Place de la Liberté while today’s Old Theatre Street was called Rue de la Fraternité, promoting the three famous tenets of the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme of 1789. This small relic is witness to the island’s early political participation in what was to usher in early democratic practices in Europe only nine years after the determining French revolution in France.