Over the past few weeks, social media has been inundated with photographs of the newly-restored Tritons Fountain which graces the entrance to Valletta, the European Capital of Culture for 2018.

Such a prominent landmark which after years of neglect was finally restored by the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects together with a hard-working technical team, who now get to witness the fruits of their labour in fully-fledged splendour.

The task of addressing this challenging but fascinatingly intricate conservation and restoration project was a difficult but rewarding one, with several unique factors and challenges that have never before been recorded in monument conservation.

Carrying out a feeble aesthetic exercise which would barely scratch the surface was never an option for the government, and instead the plans were devised on methodology dictated by the monument and its history, in the best interests of Malta and its cultural heritage assets.

This set off an intensive research exercise, which revealed that the fountain had a remarkable hidden history. It was artistically mastered by Vincent Apap, one of Malta’s most prominent sculptors, and technically devised by his lesser known collaborator, Victor Anastasi.

It was the winning offspring of a tough competition launched by the government at the time. June 1955 saw the beginning of works, but following the renunciation of power by the government, which led to direct governance by Colonial rule, the fountain was sadly never formally inaugurated and remained a political orphan in the middle of a busy and cluttered bus terminus.

As with most things, the fountain had its own Achilles heel, in its case the sculptural group. Devoid of structural armature within themselves, the mighty triton figures had to bear the weight of a water loaded basin without additional support.

The statues’ weakness was confirmed by a stress test undertaken in 1959, which led to a modification undertaken by the Public Works Engineers, where the basin was fitted with a displacement tank intended to offset the volumetric capacity of the basin and reduce the water content.

A most unfortunate incident happened on March 1, 1978, when the sculptural group collapsed while the fountain was fully operational with water.

While most people attribute the collapse to a performance which used the fountain as its stage, it was simply a red herring, which was generally assumed in the circumstances. In fact, the load subjected by performers was well below the threshold of 4,000 litres of water equivalent to four metric tons.

Contemporary technical reports drawn by engineers from the Public Works and later by Malta Drydocks all diagnose and attribute the collapse to flooding of the displacement tank due to a leak sprung by electrolytic corrosion and a blocked emergency weeping hole.

This grade one scheduled monument has risen from the ashes after it had sadly diminished into a ghost of its former self

The repairs undertaken by Malta Drydocks in 1986 were perhaps a blessing in disguise, as that is what kept the fountain in existence throughout the years. The intervention created a bypass route for the water without touching the Tritons; an infamous central column which effectively diminished the dynamic role of the strong sea gods.

Promoting this monument as a suitable candidate for rehabilitation was no easy feat. The repairs by Malta Drydocks had been accepted given the time elapsed, and made worse when an ill-advised plan to eliminate the Tritons Fountain from its strategic position was proposed to government in April 2011.

It was to the merit of the Heritage Planning Unit of the Planning Authority that the government was advised against this.  A technical team was set up by the then Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure. In view of the surrounding upgrading plans of Tritons Square, it made sense to look at the project holistically.

A new plant room and a 40-metre long new interconnecting tunnel was included in this respect. Testing of the Tritons Fountain began in the first week of November and was concluded in December.

This grade one scheduled monument has risen from the ashes after it had sadly diminished into a ghost of its former self. After years of neglect, this monument has now become the new face of Valletta; a face which had almost gone into oblivion.

With the perseverance of the government and the direction of the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, the Tritons Fountain can now gloriously guard the entrance to our majestic Valletta, the 2018 European Capital of Culture.

Today, an exhibition about the Tritons Fountain and Tritons Square will open at the Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta.

The exhibition will include photographs of the fountain and the square, taken across the years. The story of this location which is central to several Maltese people will be clearly illustrated in this visual journey.

The exhibition will remain open until March 6, with opening hours from 10am to 7pm, everyday. The public is invited to visit this exhibition free of charge.

Kenneth Cauchi is a conservation and historical consultant on the Tritons Fountain project.