Valletta - a plaque plague

Perhaps it takes less than a couple of generations to deface a city and what I have in mind is Valletta, Malta's capital. It is sufficient to walk through its streets to note the amount of irresponsible action that has turned it into a fertile ground for a plague of plaques and statuary placing more than a score of personalities on the threshold of the portals to posterity.

The merits of such personalities are not questioned here but a plea for good taste and rational thinking is called for before the situation becomes irreparable and shameful.

The "City for All Seasons", the "World Heritage City", the "City of Gems" are but a few of the titles that have been showered on Valletta but what is manifest today is far removed from the formidable, sober aspects that had been devised to serve its purpose throughout history.

Born in the wake of a great siege and top of the list of contemporary priorities, the bare ground of its humped topography, mapped as Mount Sceberras, was entrusted to scores of foreign architects, engineers, craftsmen, painters and artists who left the brand or professional hallmark of their excellence. And Valletta came into being.

History books and archives highlight, among others, the 16th century architect Francesco Laparelli, commissioned by Pope Pius V (jointly with Pius IV?), to submit his blueprint of Valletta, while Romano Carapecchia, Maurizio Valperga, Paolo Floriani and Giovanni Battista Vertova, the latter renowned for his skill at designing fortifications, had more than a hand in its making.

Despite a marked shift from the Mannerist style to the Baroque, Valletta thrived and matured while maintaining a happy blend between the lavish and the monastic look, and the austere façade of St John's Co-Cathedral is a valid testimonial of this.

World War II wrought havoc and reduced the capital to the barest aspect of its pristine semblance, and restoration and reconstruction were not spared over the recent half century. But questionable improvements, backed by political pressure, came in their wake with controversial results that are easily discernible.

A casual stroll along a few Valletta streets reveals many things. I shall name a few. Half way down Republic Street is the present National Museum of Archaeology with two marble plaques on its colonnaded façade.

The one on the right notifies the date of the erection of the Auberge de Provence while that on the left, the inauguration of the present museum by Ms Agatha Barbara, Minister of Education, in 1958. Is it really necessary to have the latter plaque placed on the outside rather than in the museum's entrance hall?

To the right going past St John's is a huge bronze plaque placed on the wall to commemorate the Malta visit of the late Pope John Paul II. Once on Great Siege Square, one prepares to count on four fingers from left to right: a huge monolith with a small plaque to remind the public, local and foreign, that it was Perit Charles Buhagiar, former Public Works and Construction Minister, in June 1998, who was responsible for the paving of Republic Street. To my mind, this memento mars the clear-cut geometry of the Courts' colonnade.

Moreover, if Mr Buhagiar did merit such a worthy place in the city's main street, what should have been done for the outstanding duo, R.J. de Tignè and C.F. de Mondion for their engineering feats in fortifying the area early in the 1700s? No acknowledgment in sight? No visible niche for Grand Master Fra Jean de la Valette, who fathered Malta's capital that bears his name.

Diametrically opposite, on the first column of the arcade, is a marble plaque portraying the four trophies that the Valletta Football Club notched in its annals of wins. Then comes the majestic, awe-inspiring Sciortino memorial of Malta's Great Siege, a dominating centrepiece to an array of more recent vintage culminating with a large bronze bust of Pope Pius V on a site previously allotted to Mr Buhagiar.

Standing in front of the Grand Masters' Palace, one cannot fall to notice the chain-like array of six marble plaques (four plus two) to commemorate, in Maltese and English, and legible to local and foreign tourists, the islands' outstanding events and history.

What this window-like display does to the architectural beauty cum elegant austerity of the building is wordless. Would it not have been more fitting to place these plaques along the palace's flank overlooking Republic Square? The move would certainly relieve the façade of all the modern marble tablets and restore sobriety to the palace.

It is a fact that Valletta historically abounded in inscriptions and symbolic messages but these, in the able hands of the Order's planners, designers and workers, perpetuated their scope well above the eye's line of vision, carefully placed as they were and still are on cornices, gateways and portals in decorative and triumphant outbursts.

Underlying all this present multiplicity of marble commemorative plaques is the consideration of the dubious existence of rational thinking and taste that are scarcely to be found in contemporary times.

And now for statuary in bronze. Half way along Merchants Street and barely in sight is the minute bronze sculptured head of Nerik Mizzi, placed on the square facing St John's Co-Cathedral. At the foot of St James Cavalier at the end of Merchants Street is a full-length statue of Dr Paul Boffa and on Castille Square, is the tree-hidden statue of Manwel Dimech, seemingly hailing a taxi that never was!

A full-length bronze figure of Dr George Borg Olivier heralds the entry to the Upper Barakka Gardens, an extremely popular venue to one and all for an eyeful admiration of the Grand Harbour.

But before one reaches the outer railing to take in the magnificent panorama, one is provided with a number of memorial plaques and statues (Lord Strickland, Sir Winston Churchill and Joseph Nicolai Zammit).

Other plaques include those of Albert Einstein, unveiled by former President of the Republic Paul Xuereb, memorials to Einstein and Guglielmo Marconi, Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna, Ruzar Briffa and also one bearing the salutation from Malta to the Maltese and Gozitans who had migrated to other lands.

Memorials in stone and marble plaques are also dedicated to Surgeon Bathurst Thomson, Sir William Hotham, Mgr Caruana, Major Arthur Baynes, Lieut. Cdr F.E. Walters, Chief Engineer Baker and Capt. Rinaldo Sceberras.

Would it ever occur to city authorities and those who are answerable to this massive concentration to remove some or all of them to the enclosed precincts of nearby Floriana and line them up in a suggested 'Mall' of Fame?

Much effort is being made in many ways by Government and city authorities to bring Valletta "back to life" but the undertakings seem to fall short of expectations. Pop musical evenings in the ruins of the old theatre, Peruvian street musicians, psychedelic lighting and fairground artistes are not the correct panacean dosage for the urban malaise that is creeping in steadily.

It is also said that there is a growing interest in revealing the city's underground heritage in the form of tunnels and granaries. However, remedial action should first start above ground where it is sorely needed.

If the present trend continues to persist, it would not be surprising if one were to see cypress trees fringing the bastions of Valletta, a metropolitan city turned "necropolitan".