Tapestries’ restoration

Contrary to what has been repeatedly stated in the press by the St John’s Co Cathedral Foundation, the restoration of the tapestries project did not start 16 years ago under the current curator but much earlier under curator Joe Galea Naudi.

The tapestries at St John's. Photo: Johnathan Borg

While the first two tapestries were restored in Malta they were still restored under the direction of De Wit. The first ones restored were in 2000 and discussions were held to improve the way they were hung so restoration started in 1995.

This followed the 1990 decision taken by Galea Naudi and myself as executive coordinator of the Valletta Rehabilitation Project to stop further damage to the tapestries through the way they were being hung.

At the time, De Wit did not have the large laboratory space for the tapestries but eventually they did. The first two, restored in Belgium, arrived back in September 2006 when the current curator was not working in the cathedral. Later tapestries were restored at De Voss.

Negating this history is really unacceptable.

Ray Bondin – Għajnsielem

The decline of Malta

I bought a property here 22 years ago. In that time I have watched the steady decline in the attraction of Malta. At the time of writing, it is May 2023. The bus queues from Mellieħa are horrendous: overcrowded buses when they eventually arrive. The island was always a building site; only it is now worse than ever.

I could go on but it is making me more depressed.

Sorry Malta, my for sale sign will soon be up.

Christopher Thompson – Yorkshire, UK

From caravans to shanty towns

At last, someone (MP Albert Buttigieg, Talking Point, May 12) has raised this matter of “illegal camp sites” which gradually transform into shanty towns, as the ones on the Coast Road (Armier, etc.). So are these not examples of environmental degradation? Is concrete the only environmental malady? And how come we have these caravans?

Decades ago, importation of motor caravans was not permitted, the official line being, “we have no camp sites organised with toilet and shower facilities”. 

So why was their importation permitted later when official camp sites still do not exist? And what special attribute do some people have to occupy, first temporarily and, later, permanently, public land (as Buttigieg says)?

A not totally unrelated matter is the issue of the proposed new Comino hotel on the site of the previous one. The opposition to this project seems to concentrate around this island being reserved for ramblers and campers. Is this how one goes for upmarket tourism?

 In the 1960s and early 1970s, an Italian-designed Gozo hotel was listed in an international publication called The Hundred Best Hotels of the World. Several decades later are we just aiming for the “camping and B&B tourism” level?

Albert Cilia-Vincenti – Attard