Open days at heritage sites

Heritage Malta said it will be holding open days on a regular basis at a number of sites in a bid to bring culture closer to the people.

The first of these events is planned for December 13, a public holiday when open days will be held at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, the Museum of Fine Arts in South Street, Valletta and the Citadel Museums - Archaeology, Old Prisons, Folklore and Natural Science Museums - in Victoria.

Visitors to the Maritime Museum will be able to follow a demonstration of model making by Joe Abela while treasure hunts for children are planned at the Museum of Fine Arts and the Citadel Museums.

All these activities will be free of charge to visitors.

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the art of model making with Mr Abela, a renowned model maker and restorer.

These initiatives have come about as a result of feedback from the public gathered by Heritage Malta over the past months on ways of enhancing the visitor's experience.

Entrance fees to a number of museums and other heritage sites have just been raised from Lm1 to Lm2 and free entrance once a month has been halted.

The group ticket to visit several sites has also been abolished, therefore making it necessary for visitors to buy a ticket for each site.

The measure was resorted to in order to cover the financial gap between Heritage Malta's state subvention of Lm850,000 and its salary bill of Lm1.5 million.

Heritage Malta said yesterday the new entrance fee did not apply to a substantial number of sites.

Among these are most of the museums in Valletta including the Museum of Archaeology, the Museum of Fine Arts and the War Museum.

With the exception of the Ggantija temples, the fees at the sites in Gozo have not gone up.

Heritage Malta said it was committed to enhancing its sites through the installation of interpretation panels at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra together with the introduction of multi-lingual audio guides at the Palace Armoury, in Valletta and the St Paul's Catacombs, in Rabat.

Heritage Malta is organising guided tours in English at several of its sites.

A guided tour of Ghar Dalam is held every Sunday at 11 a.m. and a tour of the Inquisitor's Palace, in Vittoriosa, including the Art of Pain exhibition, is held every Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Further tours are planned for the Museum of Fine Arts and Hagar Qim.

Heritage Malta welcomes suggestions from the public. Feedback is to be directed to: info@heritagemalta.org