The iconic HMV sign outside D'Amato records shop was taken down for good on Thursday evening, closing a 60-year chapter in the nation's capital.

The sign was damaged during the night last week by a crane being used for construction work on the opposite side of the street.

Thought to be the oldest HMV [His Master's Voice] sign in the world - hanging outside a shop which styles itself as the oldest record shop in the world - it had been up since the early 1960s, according to the store’s co-owner Anthony D’Amato.

A team from the restoration company Prervarti spent more than an hour painstakingly taking it down, securing it with a crane before removing the bolts and hinges securing it to the wall.

“I know it stuck on that wall all my life, it’s unbelievable it has to go down like this,” said D’Amato as the final preparations were being made to take the sign down.

“It’s withstood a lot of winds... but, it has to go down because of the negligence of a crane driver,” he said.

“For us, it’s not just a sign, it’s a part of our journey. It was put up by my grandfather in the 60s... I think every Maltese person walking up and down St John’s Street remembers it here."

D’Amato added he did not know how his grandfather had put up the 110 kg sign, noting the two cranes needed to remove it on Thursday.

A team from Prervarti spent more than an hour taking down the sign. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.

After its final descent, the sign was taken to Prevarti’s workshop at the Mosta Technopark, where it will be restored.

Prevarti founder Pierre Bugeja explained he had visited D’Amato Records “quite a few times” in the lead-up to Thursday, “to understand the risks involved.”

"Some pieces were hanging off... it was really in an urgent state to be dismantled,” he said, explaining the sign’s removal had “gone well” despite some difficulties.

“Now it’s going to our lab... we’re treating it like all the artworks we work on; it will be documented and studied then we’ll know how it’s going to be reconstructed,” said Bugeja.

Was he nervous taking down such a historic sign? 

“I’m always nervous,” he laughed. "It’s always a challenge.”

Anthony D'Amato, whose grandfather first put up the sign in the 1960s, watches as it is taken down. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.

Removal overseen by Superintendence of Cultural Heritage

In addition to the team from Prevarti, the sign’s removal was also overseen by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH), who D’Amato thanked as well as the police and the public – who he said had shown the store “a lot of support” following the damage to the sign.

D'Amato said the plan is to display the sign inside the store once restored, with a replica hanging in its place outside. 

Last week’s incident was the second to befall Valletta’s heritage icons in less than a month after a British-era telephone box was demolished within seconds after a delivery truck backed into it.

The company responsible for the driver immediately claimed responsibility for the incident and the Culture Ministry has promised the box will be reassembled and restored.

Speaking to Times of Malta last week, D’Amato said when he had contacted the contractor responsible for the damage to the HMV sign, the man had sarcastically replied he was “sure it was worth a lot of money”.