The Cotoner bust

As A member of the team of professional conservator-restorers who recently painstakingly worked on the bronze bust of Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner, I was delighted to read Mr Paul Bezzina's note of appreciation (The Sunday Times, December 31).

Mr Bezzina referred to placing a copy of the bust in situ instead of the original. Conservators are trained specifically to treat each artifact individually and to evaluate all options and their effects on it. Having exhausted all options, any proposals will ensure the artifact's future conservation and its historical context.

Our goal is to conserve what is original: in this respect the bust itself. However, its historical context within the niche of Notre Dame gate was a matter of paramount importance that was impossible to ignore. Copies are only made when the artifact's condition or its setting is detrimental to its physical and chemical stability as was the case with Les Gavroches, restored some years ago by other conservator-restorers.

The intricacies of the bust and its condition were only known to the few professionals who worked on it.  I am certain that the re-installation of the bust will go without a hitch. Notre Dame Gate is in safe hands: those of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna and its zealous CEO Mario Farrugia.