Heritage Malta's plan for the Citadel

Pierre Cassar, manager public programmes, Heritage Malta, (November 17) opened his reply to a letter by Tony Mercieca by trying to minimise the importance of the Citadel Armoury. The Armoury, inaugurated in March 1984, was closed down by Heritage Malta last month to turn it into an office.

Heritage Malta has confirmed through this reply:

(1) that, in this case at least, it has shown little appreciation for the toil and trouble of all those who came before it and who did their best to promote the heritage of Gozo;

(2) that it is not fully conversant with the history of the Citadel; for (a) what Mr Cassar wrongly described as "the late 18th century square hall" was actually only partly rebuilt in 1776 and (b) the "hall" had in fact been used as an armoury for some time; and

(3) that its declaration that it will "provide a holistic interpretation of the Gozo Citadel" has to be taken with a pinch of salt for, as a prelude to this holistic interpretation, it decided to close a museum within the Citadel.

I do hope that this exchange of views helps Heritage Malta realise that for us Gozitans who care this is indeed a loss with the hope that a better judgement prevails.