Vilhena Palace forecourt transformed into 'dignified space'

The newly rehabilitated Vilhena Palace forecourt in Mdina - one of the most important baroque spaces in Malta - was yesterday inaugurated by President Guido de Marco and Resources and Infrastructure Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

The project was carried out over a period of five months thanks to the financial aid of the Portuguese Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Executed by the Mdina Rehabilitation Project in collaboration with the Mdina local council, the project cost Lm46,000.

From an area that was covered in concrete, with a neglected garden on one side and aquariums on the other, the forecourt has been transformed into a dignified space, reflecting the architectural splendour of the palace, which was built by the Knights of St John in 1726.

Dr Zammit Dimech paid tribute to the great Portuguese Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena, and said the project was symbolic of Mdina's renaissance.

Next year the Mdina Rehabilitation Project is to concentrate on the upgrading of Howard Garden, the ditch, the restoration of the main gate and the Banca Giuratale.

Dr Zammit Dimech said the combined use of Maltese hard stone and Portuguese marble, as well as the donation of 250-year-old olive trees by the descendants of Manoel de Vilhena's family, which, today, adorn the forecourt, reflected the cultural and historical links between Portugal and Malta.

The connection between the Portuguese foundation and Malta dated back to the 1960s when Calouste Gulbenkian donated Lm3,000 to the University of Malta.

Dr Zammit Dimech augured that the forecourt would be used as a venue for cultural activities.

Mdina Rehabilitation Project executive coordinator Ray Bondin, who proposed, acquired the financing and coordinated the project, said it helped to restore the palace to its former glory.

Although it did not solve all the problems of Vilhena Palace, it has given it a new façade and a new look.

He hoped that a better use would now be found for the important palace and suggested that it deserved to house the headquarters of Heritage Malta - the new department for heritage protection, set up by the Heritage Act, approved a few weeks ago.

Mdina Rehabilitation Committee chairman Denis De Lucca said works on the upgrading of the garden and the ditch outside Mdina would soon start. These were part of the first action programme: to upgrade the approaches to the walled town.

The Mdina Rehabilitation Project's second action programme - the removal of unsightly overhead wiring from the walls - has been completed and services have been placed in accessible underground compartments, yielding a wealth of important archaeological finds in the process, Prof. De Lucca said.

The third action programme, which includes the paving and illumination of Mdina's streets and the installation of three fountains, is scheduled to start in October. Another major project, the paving is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of Maltese liri. The designs have already been prepared by a team of architects and the type of materials identified.

The fourth action programme includes the repair of Mdina's damaged, old buildings, said Prof. De Lucca, highlighting that the town's gates needed consolidation, while the Municipal Palace required both interior and exterior refurbishment and the old stores, built by Grand Master Vilhena, needed underpinning.

The committee has also initiated a programme of collaboration with the Works Division and the University of Bologna to monitor and identify the nature, cause, extent and cost of repairing the damage to the back part of Vilhena Palace, which is built on a "sandwiched foundation of weak rock, Roman walls, mediaeval fortifications and Grand Master L'Isle Adam's palace."

It required complex, structural interventions in the shortest time possible, he said.

The palace forecourt evoked the spirit of baroque Europe, with its brilliant and typically baroque reconciliation of two opposing elements - the mathematical precision of the forecourt quadrangle, now enhanced by architect Joao Campos's paving design, and the sculptural fantasy of the enclosure plane, restored by the Sante Guido firm, under the guidance of Dr Keith Sciberras.

In his address, the President called for a greater national conscience as regards Malta's heritage. He suggested that Mdina's magnificent Municipal Palace should not be used as a "garage to store files".

As a sign of gratitude for the intensive work and commitment put into the project, mementoes were presented to Prof. De Lucca, Mr Bondin, Ray Caruana on behalf of the Kalaxlokkk workers, Piju Fenech on behalf of the Works Division employees and Paul Ciantar, the chief technical officer.

Dr Jose' Blanco, trustee of the Gulbenkian Foundation, also addressed the inauguration, which was attended by ministers and Dona Luisa Manoel de Vilhena, a descendant of the Grand Master.

The event was punctuated by musical interludes by the Gulbenkian Choir.