The only surviving Roman catacombs in Gozo, which had recently been threatened by new development, will be rehabilitated and opened to the public.

However, NGO Wirt Għawdex is concerned that the area in front of the paleochristian hypogea, known as Għar Gerduf, will remain in private hands and, therefore, development attempts could be made there in the future.

Part of the area around and above the catacombs is being expropriated, something that Wirt Għawdex had called for in the past.

Its efforts were boosted in June 2017, after excavation work started on foundation trenches for a two-storey house planned to be built in front of the catacombs. The area around the catacombs was spared development after the Planning Authority revoked the planning permission that same month.

Wirt Għawdex was concerned that if the land was not expropriated, there would be a repeat of the development threat in the future, executive secretary Giovanni Zammit told Times of Malta.

The paleochristian hypogea, known as Għar Gerduf.The paleochristian hypogea, known as Għar Gerduf.

As announced in Parliament and also reiterated during meetings between the Gozo Ministry and the NGO, the plan was to build a visitors’ centre and open the catacombs to the public, he noted. However, Wirt Għawdex has not yet been informed of any finalised plans and it was worried there was not enough expropriated land to build the visitors’ centre.

The conservation of the catacombs was specifically mentioned in the Labour Party’s manifesto and 766 square metres is being expropriated at a cost of more than €400,000, according to a notice in The Malta Government Gazette.

Wirt Għawdex is calling for the catacombs to be protected until the restoration on the site started.

Read: 'Unrecorded historical remains in Gozo is worrying'

In a letter to Times of Malta in 2017, Mario Buhagiar, from the University’s Department of History of Art, noted that the site was a vitally important archaeological zone and any disturbance, unless for research purposes, would be “an unpardonable crime against Malta’s much-vaunted cultural heritage”.

The catacombs, which featured in several of his publications, were of crucial importance to Malta’s late Roman and early Christian history, despite the “mutilations” they were subjected to at several stages of their long history, he had noted.

In another letter, heritage architect Edward Said echoed Prof. Buhagiar’s pleas. He had noted that the late historian, Mgr Anton Gauci, had, in 1966, mentioned the possibility of underground spaces beneath the present floor of the site as well as the presence of Roman baths and an ancient church in the vicinity.

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