Fountain restored in Lm22,000 project

The Eagle fountain at San Anton Gardens has been restored in a Lm22,000 project carried out by Italian restorers and the Restoration Unit.

The project included the documentation of details of the fountain, removal of cement and whitewash which was applied during the last restoration in the 1980s, consolidation of parts of the fountain which were deteriorating, the application of a protective component and a new piping system so that the water would not come into contact with the sculptured part of the fountain.

Work was completed in May.

Infrastructure Minister Dr Zammit Dimech, who visited San Anton yesterday, said that the sum of Lm22,000 did not include the wages of employees from the ministry who worked on the fountain.

Of the total cost, the ministry forked out Lm17,000 while the rest of the money was paid by the tourism ministry.

He said that personnel from the Restoration Unit and students were following a vocational course on restoration at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology under the supervision of architects from the unit and the Italian restorers.

He said that in recent years the government had been assisted by the Italian restorers in the restoration of St Catherine of Siena church in Valletta and had continued to work on other projects in the framework of the programme Cantieri Scuola.