Contractor Joseph Portelli had infamously declared that Malta needs 100 years more construction. In reality, what our island really needs is to inject money into the many beautiful yet dilapidated architectural gems that dot our country.
Speaking recently at Villa Guardamangia, National Heritage Minister Owen Bonnici said that 40 restoration projects would either start, continue, or be completed in the coming year. While this news is most definitely welcome, many Maltese people are choosing to be cautiously optimistic about whether that time frame is indeed feasible. Many remain very cynical if they will really happen – and do you blame them?
Whether it’s because we have simply had enough of the cementification of this island or because we cannot stomach the pain of seeing more beautiful old buildings torn down, there is clearly a thirst to embrace older beauties.
A recent event organised by the Żebbuġ council in collaboration with the property owner opened Villa Buleben, also known as Tal-Baruni, to the public. It was an overwhelming success with thousands of people attending over a single weekend.
Żebbuġ mayor Steve Zammit Lupi , who is well known for his activism, organised the event to encourage the government to purchase the palazzo and secure its future as a public space especially since the majestic building is currently at the centre of a pending controversial planning application, which seeks to convert it into a boutique hotel.
It should go without saying that national treasures like Villa Buleben, with its own small painted theatre and beautiful garden, should be restored to their former glory rather than be irreparably and irretrievably altered to have yet another luxury guesthouse in an already saturated market. Restoring this work of art and opening it to the public would allow our people to be part of something beautiful that transcends time and space instead of carving it up and offering it on a silver platter to a select few.
You would think we would have learnt something from the tens of Valletta palazzos lost to the hospitality industry and all the beautiful old houses destroyed to make way for more concrete boxes that fewer people can afford. Sadly, it is expected from a country that sells its passports for the same price as a converted house in Żurrieq and whose Planning Authority ignored a request to schedule Villa St Ignatius despite its cultural and historical significance. The latter villa, too, is to become a four-star hotel.
More effective education about national heritage is clearly needed if we are to save what once made our island unique and shift from a culture of money and greed to one that focuses on national pride and preservation. Not everything needs to be a gravy train or a theme park. Our landmarks are not shopping malls and should not be for sale. Only in this country would anyone apply to build a swimming pool a stone’s throw away from some of the oldest free-standing temples in the world.
Instead of having a PA constantly in the news for dishing out the most scandalous permits, wouldn’t it be better to see more incentives to encourage owners of old properties to embellish their beautiful dwellings.
The Irrestawra Darek campaign was a success which should be built upon. Despite our diminutive size, we have been blessed with so much. But instead of appreciating it, we continue to squander it. We are not the real owners of our national legacy but merely custodians for the next generations. What we do now will echo throughout our country’s history.
A country that does not respect its past will have no future.