The St John’s Cathedral Foundation President Philip Farrugia Randon regaled us with a rather patronising and very contradictory letter about the latest project (August 15).

First he states that the remains of the knights who died in the Great Siege were re-interred under the monument at the centre of the cemetery, then he tells us there are no graves there. So what are bones placed in, if not a grave?

In the course of the previous project’s debate, the foundation had taken to calling the cemetery a ‘courtyard’ to downplay its significance. Since when was it decided that the Great Siege Cemetery, dating back nearly 450 years, is not to be considered a cemetery any more, and by whom?

Even if the original grave was destroyed in the war, does that make the present resting-ground any less sacred? By that logic, why not dismantle the Floriana War Memorial, it was built after the war too, and does not even enclose any graves?

Farrugia Randon claims the project will allow for better circulation around the monument, when there already is perfectly good circulation – except for hordes of tourists – and there’s the nub! The foundation is ready to dismantle our heritage in order to ‘pack ‘em in’ more efficiently and lucratively.

He talks of restoring the treasures of the cathedral while in the same breath planning to destroy an integral part of it! Placing cash registers, turnstiles and a gift shop will obliterate the view of the monument and diminish awareness of the Great Siege heroes, in the very year when so much fuss (or lip-service?) is being made of the anniversary.

The foundation seems to have lost sight of the fact that thismonument is first and foremost a church, a sacred space, and not a museum or art gallery. Placing the “comfort of experienced travellers” before the dignity of Malta’s history and cultural memory is an extremely superficial, off-putting attitude which would have caused an outcry in any other country.

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