Paintings which were temporarily removed from national contemporary art museum MUŻA are being returned on exhibit, Heritage Malta said.

Times of Malta had in the past days revealed that parts of the new museum had been infested with mould, forcing the temporary removal of various works of art.

In its statement on Tuesday, Heritage Malta did not say how many paintings were being returned to the museum or when the process to return them would be completed.

The organisation said that the decision to momentarily remove paintings was taken after technology identified spikes in humidity in parts of the Valletta building where the musuem is hosted. 

“The main mission of Heritage Malta is to protect the cultural heritage entrusted to it, in this case, works of fine art. To this effect, we were very proactive, moving some of the paintings from a number of galleries to a storage area which had a stable climate within MUŻA,” Mr Zammit said.

“This is a process which will be concluded in the coming days and is being given all the attention it deserves. We are not going to take any shortcuts for any reason whatsoever,” he said.

Heritage Malta also formally launched the first call for temporary exhibitions at MUŻA. This call is inherent with the agency’s museum strategy, which places the artist at the centre of this new space.

Detailed information about the aims of the call, the main aim of which is to initiate a dialogue in the core of Maltese and Gozitan communities, has been given to artists. 

The exhibited art has to relate to the rich history of Malta in a way that it introduces the past to future generations. 

Artists interested in exhibiting their works can find further information, together with the form of application, here.

Applications are to reach Heritage Malta by November 1.