Imagine this: Walking slowly over the bridge before entering Mdina and lifting your eyes to admire... well nothing because someone removed the gate. Entering Mdina will not be the same again because the concept of passing into a different era is lost with the gate's absence.

The same applies to Valletta's entrance. The concept remains the same.

Valletta needs to have a gate as close to the original design as possible to complete the sensation of a time capsule, which Valletta essentially is. The gap Renzo Piano is suggesting rips to pieces the harmony of the bastions because the focal point of any walled city, the gate, is absent. The gate must return.

Let us not mend a monstrous mistake done years ago with another mistake. This missing gate mistake would be graver as by now we should have learnt our lesson. Or have we?

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