The government has denied that the rot has set in at Castille…or on its façade at least.

The Times of Malta published a story on Monday about what appeared to be a rust trail coming from a metal bracket that supports a light tube on Castille’s façade.

In a reply issued through the Department of Information, the government said that the ‘rust trail’ was actually the result of a suspected lightning strike.

It said the brackets supporting the light fittings are made of stainless steel as are the fixing screws with plastic anchors. The government said that it was already aware of the issue prior to the article’s publication.

The damage was noticed by GHRC officials on Monday morning, and the necessary action was taken early Tuesday morning

“Prior to the publishing of this article, preliminary investigations carried out by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation in collaboration with the restoration unit concluded that in all probability the damage on the building fabric was caused by a lightning strike in close proximity to one of the stainless steel brackets, which in turn melted part of the same bracket.

“The damage was noticed by GHRC officials on Monday morning, and the necessary action was taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning by GHRC personnel and by stone restorers from the restoration unit,” the government said.

The lighting system came in for harsh criticism last year from architects and conservation ex-perts over its aesthetic inappropriateness and its physical impact on the historical building. The Archbishop also entered the fray when he indirectly referred to the lit façade as giving Castille a touch of Las Vegas.

The lighting design has since been toned down to better blend with the ground-level uplighters.