A delegation from Luqa council, headed by mayor John Schembri, has successfully concluded the EU-funded Youths Meet the Cultural Heritage project in Fiumicino. Luqa council has been twinned with Fiumicino since 2007.

The project was carried out in collaboration with students from Brasov in Romania and Dionysos in Greece. The Maltese students chosen to participate in the project, which started in 2011, were the girls from Margaret Mortimer Girls Junior Lyceum, of Sta Luċija.

The main aim of the project was for the youths involved to be in contact with cultural heritage and be able to interpret this heritage in different ways.

In the first conference held in Fiumicino, the delegations taking part in the project had agreed to investigate the methodology they were planning to use and what results they were expecting to achieve.

The sites chosen by the Maltese delegation were those of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, where focus was put on the environment surrounding the temples and on the different methods to interpret the sites to foreign students.

The Malta workshop involved practical sessions in pottery making and presentations by the students at the sites’ visitor centres, helped by Heritage Malta.

The Romanian delegation chose medieval castles for its project, while the Greek delegation focused on an ancient theatre outside Athens.

In the final conference held last week, Mr Schembri spoke about the importance of preserving heritage and using a variety of tools to interpret cultural sites.

An animated presentation given by Margaret Mortimer students featured the procedures of the workshop and the publication of a booklet on the sites.