If COVID-19 has thrown your plans to spend a day at Fort St Angelo out of the window, there will soon be a second option – you will be able to explore the site from home on a virtual tour with its curator.

The tour will be one of several to be launched by Heritage Malta on a new platform that will go online this week, after the national agency had to close all doors to its sites during the coronavirus outbreak.

There are other advantages too: sites with challenging physical access can now be enjoyed by all and what’s more, it is all free of charge.

Video: Heritage Malta

Museums, heritage sites and underwater wrecks will all be open for virtual tours, while there will be documentaries, lectures and interactive activities for children, as well as online competitions culminating in an exhibition at Muża once the outbreak is over.

The team at Heritage Malta has also speeded up the digitisation of the agency’s collection of old photographs of Malta, a project that has been in the pipeline for several months.

The archive will be one of the features available online from this week.

Meanwhile, working in safe conditions behind closed doors, the team is still carrying out preservation work, while many sites need constant monitoring and upkeep.

CEO Noel Zammit believes that this challenging period has pushed his team to be creative in the provision of new educational and inspiring experiences.

“We have had to close our doors and open others: the virtual doors to our spaces and knowledge. I am grateful that our team of experts has stepped up to this challenge and I am proud to present their hard work,” he told Times of Malta.

“Heritage Malta is more than an agency: it is a group of people who love our cultural and historical heritage and strive to preserve, curate and most importantly, promote it.

“We are a customer-oriented organisation – for us, the visitor’s experience is paramount.”

Heritage Malta will be revamping its online experience at www.heritagemalta.org in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture.

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