It is worth visiting Fort Verdala in Cospicua not just because it is part of a remarkable late Knights period fortification but also for the impressive graffiti carved on its walls byGerman and other prisoners-of-war.

It is also worth visiting because one can admire the fantastic stone-carved armorial over the Knights’ entrance gate, which features a superbly carved baby camel and a whole range of captured Ottoman arms carved in relief in the lunette over the gateway (pictured).

This still retains the Knights’ coloured paintwork, which is also found in other areas of the fort – yellow, red, and black exterior paintwork, giving an idea of what the fort really looked like in the past.

Fort Verdala is to be restored shortly by sandblasting. So before the Knights’ layers and British paintwork are scrubbed off and lost forever, I suggest ones pays a visit.

‘Restoration’ of the exterior of Knights’ period buildings in Malta means sandblasting and stripping off the remains of the past, with Mepa approval, of course.

Sandblasting the remains of our cultural heritage – of centuries and of layers upon layers of colourful, meaningful, protective exterior paintwork, often done with EU funding, is perfectly legal in Malta.

That’s right, it’s perfectly legal to sandblast away all traces of 17th and 18th century paintwork from the façades of buildings, without even keeping a photographic record.

Layers of the Knights’ red paint that originally covered the walls of the Grand Masters’ Palace in Valletta have just been stripped off, leaving us with an ocean of naked stonework.

And they call this savagery ‘restoration’. This is modern vandalism and is a tragedy for Malta and for our understanding of the past.

This is why one will not find the remains of the red, yellow and black layers on the ‘restored’ façades along the Vittoriosa waterfront, or the Papal yellow on the façades of the churches of Our Lady of Victories and St Catherine of Italy, both recently ‘restored’ in Valletta.

Yet traces of layers of Papal yellow paintwork remain in situ on the yet unrestored (thankfully) façade of St Lawrence’s church in Vittoriosa and on other unrestored churches and chapels built during the Knights’ period.