Conservation of cultural heritage in Libya

The Malta Centre for Restoration (MCR) has just concluded a first round of talks with the Libyan authorities with a view to establishing collaboration between the Department of Antiquities in Libya and Malta's national agency for the provision of conservation services.

The chairman of the MCR's board of governors, Dr Joe Cannataci together with MCR's director, Joseph Schirò, have just returned from a visit to Libya at the invitation of Eng. Al-Bukhari Huda, Secretary of the People's Committee for the General Board of Tourism and Antiquities.

During their visit, the Maltese delegation met with Eng. Al-Bukhari whose role is analogous to that of minister responsible for tourism and cultural heritage.

During this meeting, which was also attended by Eng. Abdel Razzaq Abul-Gassem, director of Co-operation and International Relations at the Board for Tourism and Antiquities, as well as Martin Valentino, counsellor at the Maltese Embassy in Tripoli, a detailed presentation was made about the facilities and services offered by MCR.

Eng. Al-Bukhari expressed the interest of the Libyan authorities in various services offered by MCR and accepted an invitation to send a team of Libyan officials to visit MCR's facilities at Bighi during the coming months.

An in-depth meeting was later held with Dr Ali E.A. Chadouri, chairman of the Department of Antiquities who, together with senior department officials, explored a number of avenues of collaboration with the Maltese delegation.

This meeting, which was also attended by the Maltese Ambassador to Libya, Dr Richard Vella Laurenti, covered issues which include the enrolment of Libyan students for MCR training courses, MCR student and staff fieldwork in Libya and the establishment of a formal collaboration agreement between the two sides.

The Libyan authorities expressed particular interest in the possibilities offered by MCR in the restoration of books and archives as well as the expansion of the documentation capabilities of the Department of Antiquities.

In a separate meeting, the Head of Documentation and Archives of the Department of Antiquities, Dr Abdullah Al Mahmoudy, presented samples of various conservation problems that his division has to contend with when caring for manuscripts, books and works of art on paper.

He expressed great interest in his staff following training courses in conservation at the Malta Centre for Restoration as well as in the possibility of books and manuscripts being restored with MCR's assistance. Dr Al Mahmoudy was also very interested in the possibility of MCR's Documentation Division providing training to the Department of Antiquities in the application of laser scanning technology.

During their stay, the Maltese delegation was accompanied by Mohamed Ali Fakroun, director of the Tripoli Museum, who facilitated visits to a number of sites which may eventually form part of the collaboration between Malta and Libya in the field of cultural heritage.

Dr Cannataci and Mr Schirò were shown round the museums at Tripoli, Leptis Magna and Sabratha, where mosaics, statues and other artifacts may eventually be restored by combined teams of Libyan, Maltese and other MCR staff and students.

The Maltese delegation also carried out preliminary surveys at the UNESCO World Heritage archaeological sites of Leptis Magna and Sabratha. The Libyan authorities have expressed interest in using the services of MCR's Documentation Division to carry out laser and photogrammetrical surveys of these and other sites in Libya.

MCR is a partnership between the University of Malta and the Ministry of Education. The Centre's mission, as defined by the Cultural Heritage Act 2002, is to become an international centre of excellence in the provision of training, education, research and practice of conservation and restoration of cultural heritage.