May I join Lino Spiteri and John Schranz (The Sunday Times, February 21) in expressing disapproval at the plans for the Valletta entrance.

May the government pause and listen to the vast number of citizens, including a number of Valletta residents and shopowners I have spoken to, who do not want millions spent on Renzo Piano's open theatre (which looks more like a tennis court than a theatre), nor on his parliament house on stilts (which looks like children's toy wooden building blocks stacked on top of each other), and nor on his gash in the fortifications - the lack of a main gate violating the fundamental concept of a fortified city.

What we really wish for is that the Valletta entrance be rebuilt exactly as it was before World War II. No architect, however renowned and ingenious, may invent anything as beautiful as the architectural marvel our grandparents knew.

We ought to follow the example of the citizens of Dresden: the Semper opera house, built in 1841 and destroyed by Allied bombing in the last weeks of World War II, was rebuilt in 1985 almost as it was before the war. The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), built in 1726 - 1743 and similarly destroyed in 1945, was rebuilt in 2004-2005 using the same materials and original plans of the 18th century architect Georg Bahr.

Dresden residents even salvaged and numbered unique stone fragments from the church ruins for the eventual reconstruction. Likewise, we should salvage stone fragments of the former city gate that are dumped somewhere in Sta Luċija, and use them for rebuilding the gate.

Sure enough, some will disagree with my views. Among them will be prominent architects and politicians whose colossal egos induce them to immortalise themselves by building colossal edifices. Building 'a replica' - that is how they would put it - will not give much opportunity for their names to be inscribed on marble plaques and for bronze busts of themselves to pepper the capital city.