Simon Mercieca and Rev. Can. Marc Abdre Camilleri (The Sunday Times of Malta, December 4) have taken umbrage at my remarks about an ill-advised decorative programme which is out of harmony with the classical architecture of Ġużè Damato’s Christ the King parish church, Paola.

My long life of training in the history and appreciation of the visual arts has taught me that there are principles of good taste that cannot be violated without causing damage to the building or environmental setting they are misguidedly intended to embellish. This is a principle I try to impress on my students.

Good taste has to be cultivated and results from sound training in the visual arts. The flouting of good taste that we see so much of today promotes disharmony and a state of aesthetic disruption.

This is what is happening in Paola and in other churches where plebeian taste and gaudy kitsch have taken over and cheapened the nobility of the architecture.

The need for parish priests to seek expert advice and bind themselves to the decisions of a serious Commission for Sacred Art composed of members with a solid formation in conservation and the history and appreciation of the visual arts is essential. And it is the Curia’s duty to see to it that they do.

The preservation of an important architectural and artistic heritage is at stake.

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