Five experts in architectural heritage have expressed their concern over the deteriorating levels of heritage preservation in the country.
Architects Richard England, Alex Torpiano, Conrad Thake, Edward Said and Claude Busuttil raised examples from towns around the island to decry the authorities’ lack of vision and call on architecture to respect era and context.
Joining Astrid Vella from the environmental NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, they said the destruction of one house or block affected the whole area.
“Given that our economy depends on tourism, such destruction is extremely damaging and short-sighted. When we destroy our past we are damaging our future,” they said.
They were speaking at a press conference organised by FAA last week.
Ms Vella said a petition launched to save the ‘Ħaggarija’ heritage house near the Cittadella in Victoria, whose interior is facing demolition to make way for a car park, had attracted nearly 1,400 signatures.
Prof. England said this was a fine example of architecture by Ġużè D’Amato, whose works should be especially appreciated in the light of the fact that the 1950s were architecturally quite poor in Malta.
Given that our economy depends on tourism, such destruction is extremely damaging and short-sighted
Dr Thake appealed to the Bishop of Gozo to re-evaluate the project, which was not only an injustice to the Gozitan community but also because the value of such a structure in its streetscape went far beyond Gozo.
Prof. Torpiano said that besides the loss of a very fine building, this project had very worrying implications, as it made it clear that society seemed to value a car park more than a cultural site.
Mr Said highlighted how Art Deco houses in Sliema, involved in a recent controversy, had not been protected. In a town like Sliema different recent styles still survived but were not being appreciated, even though, as excellent examples of each period, they were as valid as the oldest buildings of Mdina.
Whole areas of Sliema, Gżira and Ħamrun, which contained a rich variety of 20th century styles, were being ruined by what Mr Said called an architectural apartheid.
He appealed to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to do a stock-take of buildings and especially streetscapes that should be protected.
Dr Busuttil described how worried he had been when Valletta went through the phase of having houses gutted in an orgy of “façadism”.
Already in the 1960s, foreign architects had been urging the Maltese to value Maltese architecture.
“By destroying the house in Victoria and a whole block of the Cospicua Urban Conservation Area we are unforgivably repeating the mistakes of the past and seem to have learnt nothing in the space of 60 years,” he said.