Governor of St Petersburg visiting Malta

This year, the Russian Orthodox Easter falls on May 5. In an interview he gave me, Russian Ambassador Dr Sergey S. Zotov revealed to me a very pleasant and important surprise. He planned to celebrate this year`s Russian Orthodox Easter together with the Maltese people in a memorable way by organising the visit to Malta of Vladimir Yakovlev, governor of St Petersburg.

This is the second largest Russian city, and, more importantly, the former capital. As such, it had historic connections with Malta. The governor is expected to arrive here on Thursday.

Ambassador Zotov, the Maltese public has become accustomed to interesting and highly important initiatives on your part which open up new vistas in the relations between our two countries. One such new, unexpected enterprise is surely Mr Yakovlev`s visit. Would you tell us more about it?

The idea of organising the visit was prompted by the upcoming tercentenary of the "Northern Capital", which played a special role in Russian-Maltese ties. It is via St Petersburg, then capital of the Russian Empire, that the first contacts with Malta were established, starting from the 18th century. It is with this city that the brightest moments in the 300-year-long history of our relations are associated.

This is especially worth remembering now that we are celebrating the 35th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between my country and Malta. On the occasion of this double jubilee, apart from Governor Yakovlev`s visit, we have arranged for another surprise - a colour photo exhibition entitled "The Maltese Presence in St Petersburg", about which I will give more details further on.

The exhibition, to be held at De Porres Cultural Centre in Sliema, will be jointly inaugurated on Friday by President Guido de Marco and Governor Yakovlev.

The governor will be accompanied by Vice-Governor Vladimir Shitarev, the director of the world-famous Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Main Heroldmaster of the Russian Federation Georgy Vilinbakhov, two senior officials of the city administration`s external affairs committee - Ivan Artsishevsky and Elena Khindikaine - and the director-general of the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel, Leonid Mikhailov. In all the delegation comprises 11 representatives of St Petersburg`s administration and about 20 businessmen.

Their programme includes meetings with Ministers John Dalli, Joseph Borg, Michael Refalo, Louis Galea and Josef Bonnici and the Chamber of Commerce, on Friday, where they will hold a business presentation on St Petersburg. They will visit Malta Drydocks on May 6. I hope for a most constructive discussion of prospective projects of co-operation in shipbuilding between Malta and St Petersburg, which will be represented by administrators of the biggest shipbuilding plants of Russia`s "Northern Capital".

We have prepared a very interesting cultural programme for the guests from St Petersburg, including a tour of Gozo.

Here I would like to thank a real friend of my country, Corinthia Group chairman Alfred Pisani, to the kind hospitality to be extended for the delegation at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel as well as for his sponsorship of the visit. According to a Russian saying, Tsar Peter the Great, by founding St Petersburg, "opened for Russia a window to Europe". Slightly rewording it, I can state that Mr Pisani, through this city, "has opened a window for Malta to Russia".

It is no exaggeration to point out that his brilliant operation resulting in the acquisition of one of the best hotels in the heart of St Petersburg has created in Russia, if not in the whole of Europe, a qualitatively new image of today`s Malta. It demonstrates the talent of Maltese businessmen and the huge investment capacity of the island, tangibly contributing to the promotion of Malta`s international prestige and stimulating Russian business interest towards it.

I am confident that the Corinthia Group has a great future in Russia and that the solid respect and confidence Mr Pisani enjoys there will lead to new promising contracts of the CHI in my country, where Malta and the "Corinthia" are now closely linked in the public mind.

Coming back to the photographic exhibition, I note that its very title sounds highly intriguing. Could you describe "the presence of Malta in St Petersburg" more concretely?

I wish to refer to the tragic days of the Order of St John in Malta at the end of the 18th century. In 1792, after the French Revolution, the Knights were deprived of their large estates in France (which provided roughly two-thirds of the Order`s income at the time) and then in Germany and Italy. The Order was on the verge of financial collapse.

A helping hand was extended to the Order by Tsar Paul I, who, on January 6, 1797, signed a convention establishing in Russia a Catholic and then an Orthodox priory with the appropriate means and privileges. Paul I gave the Order 300,000 florins - an enormous sum in those days. Moreover, on November 13, 1798, at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, the Russian Emperor, at the request of the Knights of Malta, who by then had been expelled from Malta by Napoleon, assumed the title of Grand Master of the Order. He took the Order under his protection declaring St Petersburg as its headquarters.

Paul I`s decision was based on his conviction that at that time only Russia was in a position to unite around itself all the military and intellectual forces of Europe irrespective of their citizenship, class or religion in order to counter the revolutionary movement spreading from France. This was threatening not only thrones of Christian monarchs but also Christianity itself.

It is at that time that the symbols of the Knights of Malta started to appear in the life of the "Northern Capital". The Maltese Cross was introduced as part of the state emblem, official seal and banners of guards regiments. The Order of St John was confirmed as one of the highest state decorations, whose holders wore crimson mantels with a white cross.

Paul I presented Count Vorontsov`s Palace to the Order as its residence. Since then it is known as "the Maltese Palace". On its premises G. Quarenghi built a Catholic Maltese chapel with a richly decorated altar, church utensils and a gorgeous Grand Master`s throne.

Two Gothic cathedrals were erected on Kamenny Ostrov (Stone Island) and the Moscow Road - those of the Nativity of St John, where the Maltese knights took their oath, and Our Lady of Chesme, which was given to the Council of the Order.

In Gatchina (residence of Paul I) the Priorsky Palace was built for the Prior of the Order, Prince Condè, and inside the Pavlovsky Palace the Chevalier Hall was refurbished for the knights` ceremonies. Paul I assumed the title of Grand Master in the course of the construction of his new residence - the Mikhailovsky Palace - and this had an immediate architectural effect on the future edifice.

These monuments of St Petersburg during Paul I`s rule (1796-1801) till now preserve the memories of the unique phenomenon in Russia`s history reflecting the spirit of the Knights and a special poetical mood of the elements of Maltese culture.

There is still a lot more that can be said about the Knights` handing over to Paul I of the three "sacred Maltese relics" (a fragment of the True Cross, the right hand of St John the Baptist and the icon of Our Lady of Philermos), which were kept in St Petersburg till the 1917 Revolution and had a significant impact on the spiritual ties between Russia and Malta.

I am happy that we have managed to bring to the island a replica of this sacred icon - the Protectress of the Order and Malta - which I presented, on January 25, 2001, to President de Marco and Archbishop Joseph Mercieca as a gift of the Russian Orthodox Church to the people of Malta.

The icon returned to its original place - the chapel at St John`s Co-Cathedral that had been specifically built to accommodate it - and thus the broken links of time were rejoined quite convincingly attesting to the unity of the Christian roots of our two peoples and the whole European civilisation.

I know that the exhibition features photos taken by a Russian master. What can you tell us about him?

The photos were taken at the request of the Embassy and they are the works by photo-artist Mikhail Pikalov. Of course, he will come as a member of the delegation. His photos do not just depict historical monuments - all of them are filled with a remarkable personal attitude towards St Petersburg, with the master`s love for and appreciation of the City.

I am sure the Maltese public will be pleased to see the traits of the 300-year-old historical presence of their predecessors in the remote and glamorous imperial capital of Russia.

There is something more our Maltese friends can expect. Governor Yakovlev and Hermitage director Piotrovsky, while in Malta, will discuss with Education Minister Louis Galea a plan to hold in Malta in November an exhibition of water colours showing views of Malta and Gozo by the 18th century artist Jean-Pierre Houel, which are kept at the Hermitage museum. It should indeed be worth seeing.