A monument for Mosta personages

Around six months ago, soon after the Mosta basilica was equipped with a new system of lighting, surrounding the dome and all, this newspaper carried a letter by two locals who presented a well-argued and very pertinent proposal that the lion and pedestal in Mosta  square be replaced with a monument to George Grognet, architect of the temple.

Since then, absolute silence; the reason being, one assumes, that, for the best part of these six months, Mosta square has been little better than a war zone, with road and infrastructure works likely to substantially change the geography of the place.

Yet, paradoxically enough, these ongoing works happen to be the best piece of news for the proposal to erect a monument to Grognet; the project can now move ahead on a strong foothold.

The bars and clubs around the square seem to be rife with small bits of invented or leaked information that has turned some obstacles, hitherto considered insurmountable, into veritable blessings.  These same works now make it feasible to move the said lion and pedestal to another place, the most probable one being in front of the Lord Nelson restaurant, which has been crying out for a roundabout ever since the traffic directions there were changed.

People have now even begun discussing whether the honour of this monument should go only to the architect and not also to the three other personages who had a huge part in bringing the massive Rotunda project to fruition.

The other three names are obvious ones to all Mosta: Curate Feliċ Calleja, the person who first touted the unbelievable ambition of a Mosta (then a village with a population of less than  4,000) pantheon and whose munificent bequest served to build more than half the temple; his assistant and eventual successor Ġammari Schembri, who followed the whole 27-year odyssey of the building to its completion; and last, but not least, Grognet’s right-hand man from beginning to end, the master builder Angelo Gatt.

Finally, this would also be an excellent opportunity for both parties on the Mosta local council to take this project in hand right away and form an ad hoc committee to set the ball rolling.

Theirs will be no mean task.

Joe Saliba – Mosta