Of mutilated trees, museums and David Beckham

A curious report in last week's paper dealt with the pruning of the olive trees on St Barbara Bastion. Despite the fact that the residents were so horrified at the mutilation of the trees that the torture was suspended, the mayor of Valletta chose to defend the process in exactly the same way in which he chose to defend the siting of Attardi's statue of Aeneas when I was intrepid enough to point out that its present site was unworthy of such a great chef d'oeuvre! I feel I must point out that people like myself do not opinionate without good reason and we do this not merely for the sake of criticism but because we feel that a better alternative is available.

Too often in my experience as a writer has any stance I have taken been met with an unnecessarily defensive attitude which, may I add, is always preferable to the usual complete indifference. I know that Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier loves Valletta passionately and has its best interests at heart, however he is at times forced to make stands which, quite frankly, are unwarrantable! Such is the fate of the trees. Too often have we seen trees mutilated to such an extent that they simply look like obscene stumps. I will mention the Pietà and Balluta ficuses as a prime example.

Just on the point when one can actually look up on a blazingly hot summer's day and shelter under a scintillating parasol of green, the Agriculture people move in with their electric saws and proceed to reduce a once noble tree to a sorry stump. They justify this by saying that it will grow better in future. In this case this "future" means years if not decades. I have also been told that this mutilation is carried out because the residents complain that the trees block their view and that the birds that take refuge in the ample branches soil the residents' cars parked beneath! I have never seen such drastic pruning anywhere else in the world and I find it very hard to believe that it can be justified in any way as, no doubt, someone will do just after this article is published. On a windswept, sun baked island like ours natural shade is at a premium and I find it inconceivable that this decimation is actually allowed to happen.

On everybody's lips is the totally unexpected recovery of the stolen Bonello family paintings. Just when everyone was convinced that an irreplaceable part of our national patrimony had been filched by an international ring of thieves and everyone was avidly studying each painting on the Interpol website, the haul was located in no other place than in Canon Pirotta Street, Birkirkara! Shades of the previous Caravaggio robbery of the St Jerome! Having a Caravaggio work alone in a private collection today is like issuing a gilt-edged invitation to art thieves to come and rob it! It is a tremendous responsibility.

Great works of art of international stature are not easily found in Malta. We were indeed lucky that Caravaggio did happen to visit Malta and produce among others a supreme masterpiece like the Beheading of St John. Had the mysterious scandal, which radically changed the attitude of the court of Grandmaster Wignacourt towards this turbulent and controversial genius, not landed him in the guva of St Angelo followed by his equally strange escape to Sicily and enigmatic death, who knows what splendid masterpieces would now be in our national collection!

There is no provision in our laws pertaining to the protection of national private collections for I believe that if one happens to have a top world class oeuvre it does form part of the nation's heritage as much as if it were in a public museum. The responsibility of owning such a work is a tremendous risk for the owner and yet nothing is done to ensure that should the owner choose, of his own free will, to put this work on loan to a museum, actual ownership remains sacrosanct. Therefore, quite understandably owners of such works are, to say the least, very reluctant to advertise the fact let alone make any sort of loan or donation for the enjoyment and appreciation of others.

Because of the 300-year sojourn of the Order of St John in Malta, the standard of our "antiquities" is extremely high when compared to similar Mediterranean countries. Now that we are actually part of the EU after such a fraught struggle, we seem to forget that during our so-called "subjection" to the Order and afterwards to Great Britain, Malta was a microcosm of Europe and was an EU long before the term was coined! Our artistic heritage underscores this fact. It is this same heritage that will in future ensure that our economic lifeblood, tourism, will flourish and provide jobs for all. It is therefore of paramount importance that politicians bite the bullet and once and for all put their heads together to enact all the laws necessary to ensure the future preservation of our national heritage.

Talking of museums, a top news item stated that Leonardo's Mona Lisa is in danger of losing her smile as the painting is showing signs of wear and tear and that the Louvre has ordered an in-depth study of the masterpiece with a view to its preservation. Therefore, if even in a top museum like the Louvre, the doyenne of museums, there are problems in maintaining its undisputed jewel in the crown, can one imagine what a tremendous commitment and responsibility any state should have towards the maintenance of its patrimony?

Again speaking of museums, I read that the National Portrait Gallery has launched a video-portrait of none other than football superstar David Beckham, entitled Sleeping With David Beckham. This installation (I am under the impression that this is what these exhibits are called nowadays) consists of a fixed view of young Dave's famous face and muscular torso in serene but very sexily shot repose during an entire night in subdued atmospheric lighting. Apparently the amount of visitors to the NPG has increased alarmingly and I have been told upon good authority that many of them come out of the NPG suffering of severe cricks in their necks!