Among all the fortifications surrounding Valletta - Forts St Angelo, Ricasoli, St Elmo and Manoel - St Angelo is the only one that pre-dates the Knights. This great octagonal fortress, dominating the Grand Harbour, was only a small fort when the Sovereign Military Order arrived in Malta. But it was quickly expanded in the years leading up to the Great Siege, when it became the key to the Knights' defence of Malta.
Together with St Elmo, Fort St Angelo must rate as the most historic in the annals of Malta's long history.
Yet, Forts St Elmo and St Angelo are in a pitiful state of repair, both virtually abandoned for the last three decades and - except for the Cavalier now occupied by the Knight Resident - left to deteriorate under the relentless battering of the elements. This dilapidation has been starkly exposed and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has just approved an emergency conservation order to restore the historic main gate of Fort St Angelo. The fact that the first application to "re-face" the main gate was filed by the British naval authorities in 1929 should not distract us from the key message in this saga: Fort St Angelo has been neglected for far too long and is in dire risk of collapse in many parts.
The extent of the deterioration on the main gate, the vaulted entrance and the ramp leading up to it is such that "drastic intervention" involving the replacement, not reconstruction, of most of the stones forming the gate is now necessary because they have almost disintegrated after years of neglect.
The sorry state of Fort St Angelo is a damning indictment of successive governments' treatment - utter neglect - of this outstanding historic site. From the dismal attempt to insert a hotel within the confines of the fort, to the indifference to its maintenance shown by every Administration since 1979, the story of St Angelo stands as a salutary admonition of the government's unconcern for Malta's rich cultural heritage.
Only now - at the eleventh hour, when historic fortifications are literally crashing down - are we beginning to see some awakening by the authorities to the potential historic losses facing us. The last Budget included an allocation of €1.5 million in emergency funds, as a stop-gap measure to restore the main gate. This is a drop in the ocean when compared to the sums now needed to save the rest of the fort. The longer the government withholds funds, the more serious - and expensive - will become the task of combating the ravages of time and the elements.
Much of the blame for the state of St Angelo can be laid firmly at the door of government apathy, inefficiency and inertia. For too long, the fort was no single minister's direct responsibility. There was no ownership and, therefore, no accountability. The fact that it is now belatedly firmly the responsibility of Heritage Malta is a good thing. But, above all, no Administration has been prepared to invest the necessary funds to ensure its survival. Unless Heritage Malta is given significantly greater funds for the project - both to reverse the accelerating deterioration and to develop it properly into a thriving, cultural heritage visitor attraction - one can expect more incidents, like the emergency conservation order to save the main gate, to arise.