It is the greatest irony that, on the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege, when we are being reminded of the valour and sacrifices of its heroes every day, the cathedral that styles itself as “the home of the Knights of Malta” has chosen to pull up the Great Siege cemetery, the final resting place of those heroes.

This ambitious project proposes to expand the cathedral museum by reducing the knights’ common grave to a quarter of its present size. From its central position dominating the whole graveyard, the shrunken ossuary is to be ignominiously shunted to the side, to make space for turnstiles, ticketing booths and a gift shop.

This has been accepted by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage without the slightest reference to the fact that this is sacred ground of great historical significance, as described by Sir Hannibal Scicluna’s The Church of St John in Valletta: “To this cemetery were transported from Birgu [Vittoriosa] the remains of the valiant knights who lost their lives in the Great Siege of 1565.”

The Superintendent simply stipulates that a monitor must be present during excavations.

One of the aims of this expansion is to build a space in which to exhibit all the Flemish tapestries in one long hall, reproducing the size of the apse of St John’s Co-Cathedral. This is to be built at first-floor level and occupy much of the airspace over the cemetery, which will thus be covered over.

The exhibiting of the Flemish tapestries has for some time been a contentious issue. The St John’s Cathedral Foundation has insisted that the collection of 29 tapestries should be exhibited all together, even though other museums have a policy of rotating such delicate items in turn or housing them in nearby premises, not necessarily attached to the church.

The height of the exhibition hall and its impact on the cemetery and side elevation of St John’s Co-Cathedral remain a major issue, as testified to by Mepa’s Heritage Advisory Committee: “Regarding the additions… intended for the permanent exhibition of the tapestries, the panel finds that these may be too drastic and has misgivings about the negative effect that they might have on the cathedral, which is one of the major European landmarks.

On the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege, Malta shows its gratitude to these courageous men by sacrilegiously disturbing their resting place

“Therefore, the panel requires that, before making its recommendation, it is certified that the cathedral and its outlying buildings do not provide any space that could be utilised for the said purpose.”

For some reason, this was brushed aside. Similarly, Mepa forgot the legal requirement that the developer is obliged to produce photomontages of the proposed building.

In giving the go-ahead even before the restoration method statement was submitted, Malta’s heritage authorities overlooked the limitations imposed by legal scheduling of a Grade 1 building as is the cathedral: “Demolition or alterations which impair the setting or change the external or internal appearance, including anything contained within the curtilage of the building, will not be allowed. Any interventions allowed must be directed to their scientific restoration and rehabilitation. Internal structural alterations will only be allowed in exceptional circumstances where this is paramount for reasons of keeping the building in active use.”

The addition of exhibition space can neither be considered restoration nor rehabilitation of the building, and certainly St John’s Co-Cathedral is already in active use.

The proposed extensions will change the appearance of St John’s Co-Cathedral from three sides; changes such as the Caravaggio Centre are well-accommodated and the Cappella Ardente will finally be exhibited fittingly. However, blocking the view of the cathedral by the height of the massive new structure on Merchants Street is far from acceptable.

The obliteration of the cemetery remains an outrage. The Great Siege was Malta’s finest hour, when it was universally acclaimed to have saved all of Europe. To tamper with this cemetery would be tantamount to shifting the graves of Waterloo heroes, which would be unthinkable.

Instead of seeking an alternative solution, on the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege, Malta shows its gratitude to these courageous men, who left their homelands to lose their young lives defending a land that was not their own, by sacrilegiously disturbing their resting place and hiding them behind ticketing booths, turnstiles and a gift shop.

Even the most primitive of communities respect their dead and do everything to protect their sacred resting place. Not so our ‘civilised’ society, whose only respect is for money. It is no wonder that foreigners consider us philistines and look on in horror as we set about destroying our precious heritage.

It would be unthinkable to convert any graveyard, let alone a heroes’ cemetery, into an enclosure housing ticketing booths, a gift shop and cloakrooms!

If the Church accepts this on sacred ground, then it is not surprising that it is looked upon with scepticism. Who can help but think of Christ chasing the money-changers from the temple?

Truly, we have sunk as low as we can go.

Astrid Vella is coordinator of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.