<i>Din l-Art Helwa</i> awarded silver medal of honour

The Europa Nostra silver medal of honour was yesterday presented by President Guido de Marco to the Din l-Art Helwa team responsible for the restoration and rehabilitation of the Msida Bastion Garden of Repose.

The award was made to Din l-Art Helwa in Denmark but, as is customary with Europa Nostra awards, a local presentation ceremony was also held.

The citation on the silver medal presented to Din l-Art Helwa reads "for the admirable, painstaking recovery, reassembly and careful restoration of the monuments, head stones and tombs of the Msida Bastion Cemetery, and for the conversion of this derelict historic site into a public garden".

Presenting the award, Prof. de Marco said: "You managed to give life to a cemetery."

The President said it was the cemetery in which Mikiel Anton Vassalli, the father of the Maltese language, was buried. Through Din l-Art Helwa`s work, his grave was given value, Prof. de Marco said.

Mikiel Anton Vassalli, who was for some time imprisoned at San Anton because of his French sympathies, died in poverty.

The silver medal is the most important and prestigious award presented by Europa Nostra and candidates come from all the countries of Europe.

Organisation president Martin Scicluna said it constituted a great prize for Malta and Malta`s cultural heritage.

"It is an example of what Malta is capable of achieving when it applies itself wholeheartedly to saving and preserving its rich cultural heritage."

The award, Mr Scicluna said, was also the highest honour ever bestowed on Din l-Art Helwa.

"It sets the seal of approval internationally on Din l-Art Helwa`s dedication and labour in the cultural heritage field."

Mr Scicluna said the initiative for the restoration of the cemetery had been taken by the former president of Din l-Art Helwa, Judge Maurice Caruana Curran. But the credit for the award had to go to the band of volunteers who through their daily work over more than a decade rescued the cemetery from extinction.

The team who, following the death of Reginald Kirkpatrick worked under the leadership of Andy Welsh, was made up of Anglo Saxons, Celts and Maltese.

They "laboured literally with their bare hands, come rain or shine, of their own volition, in their own free time, over a period of more than a decade, meticulously sifting broken monuments and headstones, repairing them, clearing the accumulation of weeds and undergrowth, and establishing so far as possible the original layout of the cemetery."

He said that each grave had been broken into and looted.

"Like the vandals of former times, hunters and trappers had laid claim to the land."

The garden, Mr Scicluna said, was now transformed and claimed back for Malta.

Launched in 1978, Europa Nostra Heritage Awards are granted for the exemplary realisation of projects that make a distinguished contribution and enhancement of built and man-made heritage.

Europa Nostra awarded five other silver medals this year: to the Castle of Gallico and the village of Montecalvoli in Siena, Italy; Villa Tammekann, in Tartu, Estonia; Lions House in Nicosia, Cyprus; Kynzvart Castle, in the Czech Republic; and Turebyholm Manor, in Tureby, Denmark.

Europa Nostra is a federation of over 200 non-governmental heritage organisations in over 35 European states.