Restoration works on Auberge de Castille, which house the Prime Minister’s office, will be ready early next year, Culture Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera said yesterday.
Dr Herrera was briefed about work carried out by the Restoration Directorate, which employs 166 people, during a visit to Fortress Builders, a newly-opened fortification interpretation centre in Valletta.
The visit was made to mark European Heritage Days, held over the weekend.
Director Norbert Gatt said there were more than 20 ongoing restoration projects.
In the past five years, €42 million, including European funds, was invested in restoration and all works would be completed by 2015.
Works were recently concluded on Palazzo Spinola, in St Julian’s and St Martin’s chapel in Baħrija. Work would soon start on the Santa Marija chapel in Tarxien, the old church in Birżebbuġa and the Immaculate Conception chapel in Naxxar, Dr Herrera said.
Restoration on the main façade of Castille was completed in July, marking a milestone in a project that started in 2009.
Other work to be concluded in 2014 includes the Collacchio in Vittoriosa.
Dr Herrera urged the Maltese to visit the islands’ cultural sites, noting that the European Council launched the European Heritage Days in 1985 and was joined in 1999 by the European Union to raise awareness.
Located in St Mark’s Street and previously used as an examination centre at Biagio Steps, The Fortress Builders, which opened its doors to the public free of charge over the weekend, is a museum, a research centre and a lecture centre.
Equipped with a safety hat and fluorescent safety jackets, children were yesterday helped up on to very low scaffolding and taken through the process of the cleaning of fortifications by a directorate representative.
A few steps away, a sculpture restorer cleaned a decorative piece taken from Porte des Bombes, in Floriana.
On display at the top floor was laser scanning equipment used for the documentation of historical buildings during the preparation for restoration.