Heritage in Malta is coming of age. For long decades, Malta's main priorities, like those of other ex-colonies, were essential services like health, education and the provision of employment. Heritage and the environment featured way down the list, if at all, and as a result much of it has suffered or been lost altogether. We thought we could save on the 'frills' and take a short cut to economic success, only to discover that we have more to pay today. We have only cheated ourselves.

Painfully and slowly, there is a new awareness of what this birthright is all about. Heritage is whatever makes up our character, both individually and as a people, and as a young nation finding its feet we are thirsty to find out what exactly makes us what we are. This goes beyond the dusty museum and forgotten dolmen to song and dance, tradition, myth and language.

At a recent Din l-Art Helwa talk on St. John's Cathedral's marbles, so many people turned up that could not all be accommodated even after an extra hall was opened. Young people are paying good money to attend a privately-run course, braving the foul weather after a full day at work, in order to go and learn about heritage.

All this interest has encouraged researchers to publish books of increasingly high standards which, in spite of their costly price-tags, get snapped up by the swelling legions of melitensia-lovers. Maltese-language novels and television programmes have never been so popular.

On the Government front, the Cultural Heritage Act has provoked big changes, handing state-run museums over to Heritage Malta which has not only started to revamp them and make them self-financing but is shaking up the old civil service mentality, keeping museums open all day in Summer, for a start.

The Heritage Act also created the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. Few people realise that we now have a body that is legally obliged to protect anything that is important to our heritage. To establish what that is, the Superintendence is compiling the National Inventory of Cultural Heritage, which does not just include buildings and museum collections, but also the new concepts of intangible heritage mentioned above. Our landscape, for which we have been fighting a losing battle all these years, is now also beginning to be recognised as another aspect of our heritage to be protected by the Superintendence. And here we're talking urban and marine landscape, not just rural - powerful stuff.

In addition, the Superintendence is also to propose properties for scheduling and see that such properties, along with national collections, are safe and well-maintained. Other duties include regulating the movement of cultural goods, conducting excavations and advising Mepa on land use and development.

To the Ministry of Tourism and Culture's credit, a National Strategy for Cultural Heritage has been drawn up covering every imaginable aspect of the preservation, protection and promotion of our cultural heritage. The National Strategy even recommends the promotion of cultural tourism, mentioned so often in the past but never pursued aggressively or consistently enough.

So it does seem like our concept of heritage protection has made a quantum leap into twenty-first Century Europe. But can these lofty aims be realised?

Although the Superintendence staff is expected to increase, for now it is expected to carry out all the above duties with an active staff of just 10. Conversely, while Heritage Malta inherited quite a sizeable staff in taking over the Museums Department, it has also inherited a distribution of staff and a work ethic that is not always compatible with modern demands. Therefore, while the above heritage initiatives do look very good on paper, the actual implementation of many aspects is seriously hampered by these limitations.

As for funding, although Heritage Malta receives what would seem to be adequate funding and now generates over Lm1,000,000 in admission revenues, these mainly go to cover payroll and very heavy capital expenditure demands, in an attempt to reverse the years of neglect at its different premises. With these priorities swallowing up most of its resources, Heritage Malta has not been able to launch the specialised training programmes that the sector needs so desperately. This lack of qualified personnel is going to be felt well into the future, and with EU Structure Funds in the offing, we are going to face a situation where we have the money for projects, but lack the qualified staff to carry them out.

Here in Malta heritage is still viewed as detached from our lives, at best staged just for tourists, and at worst exploited as a tourist-bleeder in an tacky wax-figure walk-through.

One organisation that is doing its best to bring heritage into our lives is Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, the people who really launched re-enactments in Malta. Run exclusively by volunteers, FWA restores historic sites and makes them pay their way by mounting displays there. And what official encouragement does it get? Minimal subsidies, as much VAT on entrance tickets as a cinema, and actually having to pay rent on premises from the moment it starts restoring it, relieving the State of that duty. This is an obscenity! Is this the fostering of heritage that Ministers are so happy to boast of? When are we going to start to put our money where our mouth is!

The Domus Romana has made excellent progress, although much remains to be done; the Fine Arts Museum and the Santo Spirito Archives in Rabat are amongst our success stories. Even more remarkably, at the old notarial archives in St. Christopher Street, Valletta, rooms-full of ancient documents have been saved thanks to the single-handed, untiring efforts of its one dedicated custodian, Salvu Fenech and his enlightened Director. Which begs the question, is it fair to take advantage of such individuals, as is also the case with the actual researching of such documents which is left to the initiative of individual academics? Other than Heritage Malta's digitisation of the Albert Ganado Map Collection, generously made available by its owner, it is shocking that the only other electronic recording of our ancient documents before they are irretrievably lost is being carried out by a private American university!

Our heritage also lies buried in the archives of Palermo, but who are we training to mine it? Has the Church appointed a qualified custodian to preserve its centuries-old parish records? How we see ourselves is very much a function of our origins, however without these records, family trees peter out and die, depriving us of our family roots, our heritage.

Similarly, because the National Library or Bibliotheca, which houses the Order's books and records, falls under the Ministry of Education which does not employ restorers, the library has, for the last few years, been deprived of the most basic of maintenance. Ancient books go unrepaired until they fall apart, there is no attempt at environmental control or monitoring, and the books are kept in conditions guaranteed to hasten their decay. This is one of the saddest scandals ignored by this administration's heritage management.

Some of the approximately 1, 200 cabrei or record-books have been researched, revealing so much about our past. Thanks to researcher like Dr. Vanni Bonello, heroes and villains alike have come back to life, while witches and bigamists have walked our consciousness again. We have got to know that the supposedly celibate Knights were far from being saints, while the Maltese had more than their fair share of prostitutes. Some of Malta's finest were pirates and slave-traders just a few generations ago, while landed gentry turn out to be the descendants of land-grabbing Bishops. This is re-living history first-hand, not through the sanitised pages of Laferla's 'Outlines of Maltese History'. Are we just going to sit back as the rest of the untapped cabrei crumble to pieces before revealing their secrets?

Fortunately Patrimonju Malti is making sure this does not happen to the Palazzo Falson private collection, a treasure trove of antiques and artefacts which speak to us of Malta at the heyday of the British Empire, when British ships carried Maltese traders to the far corners of the Empire and brought amazing pieces to our shores.

Other riches lie hidden from the public eye: after its ground-breaking exhibition on Maltese costume some years ago, Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti succeeded in convincing many patrons to loan their historic clothes to form the core of a permanent exhibition. From the roughly-woven peasant's terha, to the richly-embroidered court costumes, these clothes cast a spell over the Maltese, drawing record crowds to see how our ancestors dressed, so differently, even just seventy years ago. How can you relate to a child that your grandmother in the photo used to sneak out to exchange a few words with her beau, your grandfather, hidden under the folds of her faldetta? You can't, because you can't explain a faldetta to a child who has never seen one, although it used to be a common sight until quite recently.

How can anyone appreciate the social interaction of the Knights and the Maltese until they see the 'gem'-encrusted christening robe proudly ordered by a knight to show off his illegitimate, Maltese daughter to the world. A daughter born of his beautiful widow mistress whose solid, middle-class family put aside their habitual scruples to accommodate a 'kavallier'. Would they have been so accommodating had the father been the local cobbler - as if! So we discover that our moral double-standards date back to more pious days.

All these things cannot be learnt off the pages of schoolbooks, but from what has miraculously survived from those days, cherished by domestic curators in their bottom drawers. However, after untold sums were spent on the restoration of these costumes, they had to be kept packed away for want of a venue. I once heard it said that the Maltese Government never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity; when a suitable location was finally identified, it was taken over as a museum of political history which, predictably enough, shut down for want of attendance. Once again putting political correctness before good sense, that venue is now being mooted as a museum of the Maltese language, while the collection is slowly being dismantled as owners despairing of a positive outcome gradually ask for the return of their costumes.

Similarly packed in cotton-wool, Verdala Castle, like Sleeping Beauty's castle, lies slumbering and forgotten, its attractive interiors and garden a wasted resource. The white-washed frescos of the great hall remind us not only of the Baroque ostentation of the Knights which we absorbed into our lifeblood, but also of its role as a WWI convalescent hospital when they were white-washed in a misguided attempt at hygiene. Or they would remind us, if we could see them. The castle used to open to visitors regularly until a past President put a stop to this. So for a politician's whim, the sizeable outlay for its maintenance has, for the last few years, been footed by the taxpayer, instead of being self-financing through its admission fees. Similarly, if San Anton Palace is not going to be lived-in regularly for the moment, it should be opened to visitors; at least the Maltese will have a unique opportunity to see inside one of their loveliest palaces, the setting of so many state visits and, no doubt, a fair share of intrigue.

While some of our assets cease to be living monuments and just become husks of dead heritage to be occasionally enjoyed by the privileged few, others suffer from over-exploitation. Such was the officially-sanctioned vandalism at the Mediterranean Conference Centre for this year's notorious New Year's Eve party. Although letters in the media warned of the damage to this monument which had only just been restored, the party was still granted official permission to use the premises, which were awash in vomit by the end of the evening. Where in the civilized world would a state-owned, listed monument be prostituted in such a scandalous manner? The taxpayer would like to know how much was spent on the restoration, and how much repairs of this damage will cost, if it can be set right, that is. Also, whether anyone will be held accountable, for it is this culture of never being held responsible that breeds carelessness with the nation's only riches.

So while the framework of heritage protection seems to be well on its way, with policy documents prepared with much thought, and agencies set in place, the actual implementation is being let down by the usual problems of allocation of staff and political will. Where is the coherent strategy which coordinates all these different efforts, from the real promotion of cultural tourism, to ensuring that our cultural assets are not allowed to fall into decay or oblivion, but both preserved and exploited in a measured and sympathetic manner.

We have already lost so much of our past, so much of what makes us who we are, are we going to be remembered for letting more of it slip through our fingers, or as those who really reversed the tide of loss of our heritage on all fronts? We need to create an awareness of this loss, bring our heritage to life in the minds of our people; let them know that the telling of its tale holds more romance and violence and intrigue than that which that keeps them glued to their television sets; that it is not fiction but their past, alive in them, still guiding their habits and customs, the key to their idiosyncrasies. Thus, maybe, we can whip up a sense of urgency to ensure that this wealth of art and interiors, costumes and tales locked in archives, be bequeathed to future generations enriched by our contribution of taking responsibility for it today. It is immense fun. It is deadly serious. It is life.

Astrid Vella

Main HERITAGE BODIES and their 2005 highlights

HERITAGE MALTA, the government agency responsible for the management of over 30 national museums and heritage sites as well as the Malta Restoration Centre Bighi. Heritage Malta also organises heritage activities and exhibitions locally and abroad.

Domus Romana - Complete refurbishment, the first Heritage Malta site to be fully accessible to people with special needs.

Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Structural Funds Project - including building a visitor centre and erection of temporary shelter for the two temples as well as heritage park. Site monitoring and 3DScanning commenced in preparation for project due to be completed by mid-2008.

St.Paul's Catacombs - Improved interpretation of the site, display of related artefacts and introduction of audio guides to provide an improved visitor experience.

The Inquisitor's Palace - Improvements to the infrastructure including physical accessibility, rehabilitation of the prison complex and new electrical system.

SUPERINTENDENCE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: ensures the protection and accessibility of Malta's cultural heritage.
This includes archaeological or geological sites and deposits, landscapes, groups of buildings, as well as scientific collections, collections of art objects, manuscripts, books, published material, archives, audio-visual material and reproductions of any of the preceding, or collections of historical value, as well as intangible cultural assets comprising arts, traditions, customs and skills employed in the performing arts, in applied arts and in crafts and other intangible assets which have a historical, artistic or ethnographic value.

MINISTRY FOR RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE: The Ministry carries out restoration projects through the Restoration Unit within the Ministry.

Various chapels have been restored, including ta' Cwerra Chapel, Siggiewi, Mary Magdalene Chapel, Dingli Cliffs, St James Chapel, Luqa, St Leone at Zurrieq, and Lunzjata Chapel in Gudja.

Bastions: main focus Pinto Bastions but ongoing works being carried out at Cottonera area. Presently works are also being carried out at St Barbara Bastion in Valletta.

St Catherine's Chapel - St John's Co-Cathedral. This prestigious project included restoration of the frescoes, the marbles, the gilding and the stone-carving as well as addressing the problem of rising damp.

THE REHABILITATION PROJECTS OFFICE within the Ministry for Resources & Infrastructure is responsible for the rehabilitation and regeneration of Valletta, Floriana, Mdina and the Cottonera area. It undertakes projects itself through its own restoration and environment improvement budget and also supervise a number of projects undertaken by other departments and entities.

Cappella d'Italia, St Johns Co Cathedral: Multi-disciplinary conservation project that has helped us to understand the problems of the whole cathedral and thus future projects will be based on what has been achieved in this project.

16th Century Organ, St Johns Co Cathedral: Almost completed project to restore the oldest existing Sicilian organ both as an atifact and as an instrument.

Wall Painting at Our Lady of Victory Church: An extremely important conservation project that i shedding new light on oil painting on Maltese stone.

St Anne Gate and bastion, Senglea: Part of an ongoing project to restore the fortifications of Cottonera.

Sarria Church, Floriana: An almost completed restoration project of the only Mattia Preti church.

FONDAZZJONI PATRIMONJU MALTI: a non-profit making organisation with the aim of unveiling and promoting Maltese culture and heritage, both in Malta and overseas. Patrimonju's insistence on high standards combined with unique access to private collections has produced large scale exhibitions of numerous treasures found in Malta in an environment of artistic splendour on a grand scale. Patrimonju also publishes Treasures of Malta three times yearly and has published 16 books on art, culture and history of the island.

Palazzo Falzon: Patrimonju's ongoing long-tem project comprises the restoration of Palazzo Falson, also known as The Norman House, parts of which date back to the 13th century, and the conservation and restoration of its various collections which include paintings, silver, furniture, jewellery, oriental rugs and armoury.

DIN L-ART HELWA: The pioneer of heritage Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Malta, DHL restores and runs heritage sites all over Malta through volunteer work, fund-raising and private sponsorship. Holds regular lectures, open days and other activities to raise level of heritage awareness in Malta.

Restoration of Isopu Tower - Gozo. Joint venture with Nadur Council

Restoration of Santa Marija Tower in Comino, Dwejra Tower in Gozo, also San Antnin Battery in Gozo in conjunction with Qala local Council and Mepa.

St Roque Chapel, Zebbug - Restoration of Church and conservation of various artefacte/prints.

Bir Miftuh - The restoration of frescoes at the Church of Santa Marija and also currently in progress the restoration of the exterior walls of St Agatha's Tower in Mellieha.

FONDAZZJONI WIRT ARTNA: Voluntary organisation involved in the restoration and subsequent opening to the public of historic sites from every period all over Malta. FWA also organises displays, reinactments, cultural tours, lectures and school visits.

Saluting Battery - Rehabilitation of the old Saluting Battery below Upper Barracca, Valletta into a functional artillery saluting battery with 16 historic cannon, one fired daily as a Noonday Gun.

Malta at War Museum, Couvre Porte, Vittoriosa - Setting up of a permanent museum dedicated to the daily life of the civilian population during WWII and guided tours of the extensive underground shelters there.

Fort Rinella, Kalkara - Being restored since 1991. In addition to daily re-enactments, new exhibition showing daily life of the Victorian soldier. Also, firing of the unique Armstrong 100-ton gun last fired in 1906.

Kordin III prehistoric temple, Paola - Site surveyed & new boundary wall installed. Masterplan for site completed.
Plans to open up site in mid-Summer.