Michela Spiteri’s excellent article on the saga of the splendid Balluta Steps (‘Beware the Balluta bling’) touched a nerve: it helped conjure in my mind a sudden image of what could be a possible, true base for a team of specialists from key fields, requested to help that gem shine again.
I humbly propose it to calm and wise consideration by the local council and specialists concerned.
I held back from commenting on one aspect of the latest proposal because the mayor pointed out “it was very hurtful reading some of the comments, those that attacked the council”.
Excessive or unnecessary “embellishments” might indeed profoundly disturb one’s aesthetic sense but never to the point of harbouring non-civic intentions or responding hurtfully.
The mayor also said: “Of course, you come across residents who wish to leave the stairs in the current state they are in but, as a council, we will not have that.” And I see his point: it is dangerous and it feels and is unkempt, disrespecting its inherent beauty.
The problem is simple. This impressive street-cum-stairway is, potentially, as aesthetic a gem as its design is. What it needs is for the ravages of time to be “helped off, with its existing potential emerging”.
What it truly needs is a strong clean-up, an avoidance of the dangers it poses, a help for persons to go up and down in spite of any physical problems and without risk to life and limb and, finally, but not as an afterthought, a dynamic and aesthetic though simple regeneration that can bring out its wonderful, dynamic potential.
Key factors are the following.
(1) A rugged, non-slip (but aesthetic) resurfacing of the extreme slope (solely to avoid accidents to those who take the “dare” to run down and there will always be those who do so).
(2) Strong, low-maintenance, supporting handrails along the existing stairs while the steps themselves need a real and very simple but effective and aesthetically neat upgrade, being resurfaced and/or relaid where necessary.
One stunning possibility for the handrails is that of taller versions of the cast iron bollards used in Valletta to close, temporarily, access to some streets. These are very Liberty, harmonising beautifully with Balluta Buildings. They would be fixed permanently and would have strong chains or railings connecting them, made of stainless steel or galvanised to the highest specifications, then surface-treated for a cast-iron look, complementing the magnificent Balluta Buildings.
(3) The installation of a chairlift along one of the staircases.
It is best to consult a wide range of specialists, rather than executers: historians, academics from the disciplines involved, aestheticists, artists- John J. Schranz
(4) Retention of the impressive, dominant graffiti directly on the steep slope. It stops first-time viewers in their track, making them contemplate its powerful words, reflecting on the stairs’ extreme, upward thrust as a metaphor of the difficulty of facing the serious fears of climate threat breathing down our necks. That quote’s challenging words warn of crucial matters needing our action to avert Armageddon, rather than layering attractions on something already stunningly beautiful, needing only sprucing up, safety measures, some spark of genius.
(5) We then could, perhaps, plant two magnificent trees, maybe għarar, the ‘national tree’, said to grow only in Malta and Murcia... or, better still, the endemic, magnificent, żnuber (is-siġra tal-prinjol) on the street at the very top, one at each side of the slope.
Żnuber can grow majestically, affording shade to whoever wishes to rest on two, large, wide, high, terraced seating steps at the slope’s top, ideally in bare Malta stone, perhaps with a weather-proof wooden surface, bordered by both staircases. It would allow persons to sit enjoying the view – without permanently ruining the powerful slope’s dramatic gradient – from the lower “bench” to the kerb at the bottom. Magnificent żnuber trees would also grow enough to hide completely the uneven, inharmonious buildings behind the steep slope, emphasising its elegance to seafront viewers.
Facing the outcry against the first proposal, the mayor said: “You end up in a situation where you are ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’.” That does nobody any good. As he insisted, the council went to great lengths, for many years, studying the matter.
What are first needed are not project managers. It is best to consult a wide range of specialists, rather than executers: historians, academics from the disciplines involved, aestheticists, artists.
This approach need not take long if the team is identified urgently and asked to prepare personal briefs, discuss them in a couple of meetings (why many meetings?).
So little really needs to be done to make it safe and as splendid as the original concept was, as well as contemporary. The ground is ready: it is beautiful in itself.
Then, yes, deciding, knowing full well that taking decisions is always open to criticism and, though prepared to be hurt by some, still finally proceeding.
If conceived well and treated with the dignity it needs, it will emerge as the ideal it already embodies, otherwise, there would not have been such a hue and cry when the first proposal was made, which would have cancelled its impressive and inspiring features.
No wonder that specific graffiti was executed on that stern slope; it is a plea to defy and reject the route to madness.