Twelve information pods were unveiled during the latest phase of the Migration Museum and Visitors’ Centre at Dar l-Emigrant, Valletta. Each pod offers multimedia information about destinations chosen by thousands of Maltese migrants over the past decades.
Bank of Valletta has sponsored the pod dedicated to Australia, a continent where the Maltese have made a tremendous impact. The bank has a representative office in Melbourne, which is instrumental in helping the migrants retain their economic links with their home country.
Mgr Philip Calleja has painstakingly archived anything and everything related to emigration, chronicling the impact migrants had on their environment.
The museum’s location is also fitting because it is at a perfect vantage point, just behind the Upper Barrakka gardens in Valletta, where one could have had a clear view of migrant ships leaving for faraway, unknown lands in the 1940s and 1950s.
The digital museum helps with the easy dissemination of information among visitors, students, scholars and the public, using the latest interactive multimedia technology. The information is brought to life via numerous touchscreens, video projections and showcases, thereby enhancing the impact of the content on visitors to the museum.
Fr Alfred Vella, Emigrants Commission director, said special presentations, film screenings and academic conferences on migration problems in the past and present were also being planned.
The museum’s ultimate objectives will eventually serve to examine the history of Maltese emigration and encourage academic research in related fields among University students.
The museum will house the largest body of research material and memorabilia related to Maltese emigration. All visitors can expect an impressive combination of in-depth information and much food for thought.
The digital section on the top floor of the museum uses state-of-the-art audiovisuals while digital archiving of numerous documents and photos will provide visitors with the opportunity to search for information quickly and easily.