(Adds reaction by St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation)
A record 1,050 objections have been sent to MEPA to protest over plans by St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation to extend its museum, the NGOs Flimkien Ghall Ambjent Ahjar and Friends of the Earth said today.
The foundation is proposing to create an underground museum chambers by excavating St John’s Street. Alternatively, it has suggested building structures within St John’s graveyard along Merchants’ Street.
“We maintain that we cannot accept that a sizeable portion of our EU budget be spent on a project which will lead to exploitation and possibly damage Malta’s most precious national monument, when other feasible and simpler alternatives exit,” the two organisations said.
“A project of more reasonable dimensions would also leave funds available for more pressing projects, like the restoration of crumbling Fort St Elmo.”
The organisations argued that other parts of St John’s complex would be better used as exhibition space and funds earmarked for this project could also be used to purchase and restore a deteriorating palazzo close to St John’s to be used as a museum extension.
Reacting to the statements made this afternoon by Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar and Friends of the Earth, the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation said that both NGOs – and particularly Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar – were mounting a destructive campaign based on wrong information, sensational statements and misconceptions.
The foundation said that it was neither sensible nor logical to propose using St John’s Co-Cathedral or parts of it as an “exhibition space” and at the same time argue to relocate the museum of St John’s Co-Cathedral somewhere else. The buildings within the Co-Cathedral and the extended museum within the premises should be used specifically and only to exhibit the treasures and priceless jewels that were given to St John’s Co-Cathedral throughout its history.
The foundation stressed that the palazzo mentioned by the organisations to house the extended museum was not adequate because it was not linked to the complex of premises of St John’s Co-Cathedral and because it was not large enough to exhibit the priceless historical collection of tapestries which was being professionally restored. It stressed that a critical success factor of the proposed extension of the museum was for it to be located within or adjacent to the premises of the Co-Cathedral.
The Foundation remarked that Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar had been actively campaigning and sending emails to members of the public to ensure that it will managed to collect a large number of objections to the project.
"As a result, very probably, MEPA has received 1,500 copies of the very same protest that FAA has formulated."
The foundation said the FAA had based its campaign on wrong information and speculation.
The foundation stressed that as soon as MEPA prepared the terms of reference, it would be conducting all the necessary environment impact assessments to ensure that it would not expose the Co-Cathedral or any of the treasures to any real or apparent risks.
"Moreover, the foundation will be commissioning scientific studies as well as other specialised studies of a historical nature that will go beyond the environmental impact assessment to ensure that the proposed extension of the museum will not pose any risk to the Co-Cathedral and neither to the artefacts within it."