The tower and spire of St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral in Valletta will be saved for posterity through ERDF funding and countless generous individual and corporate donors in Malta and abroad.
Another major legacy from the restoration project is the successful investment in the new Undercroft Visitor Centre, which will play a crucial role in attracting more tourists and visitors to the Cathedral.
The cathedral launched an appeal to Save the Valletta Skyline by restoring the iconic tower and spire of the cathedral, a vital Grade 1 cultural heritage landmark which defines Valletta’s outstanding architectural landscape, four years ago.
Restoration appeal co-chairmen Martin Laing and Martin Scicluna said on Friday that when the Anglican Chaplaincy in Malta and they embarked on this complex and challenging project they were acutely aware that the tower and spire were the most vulnerable parts of the Cathedral.
Indeed, as comprehensive expert technical assessments of their condition were commissioned, they discovered that they were in an even more unstable physical state than originally thought.
The overall objective of the restoration project had been the complete restoration of the cathedral in two phases: phase 1 dealing with the tower/spire and the church fabric; and, in due course, dependent on further available funding, phase 2, focusing on the church roof and ceiling.
ERDF funding of €4.2 million was obtained towards the costs of phase 1; and contracts to complete the tower/spire restoration have been let. But the overall costs of the restoration project have escalated way beyond the original estimates due to the booming construction industry prior to the unexpected onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the coronavirus lockdown emergency the restoration appeal’s own fundraising efforts, which are critical to the payment of co-financing obligations under EU funding rules, have been seriously hit.
In the circumstances, it was concluded that the priority must be to complete the restoration of the threatened tower and spire, and hopefully to postpone the church fabric and the roof and ceiling for a next phase when new funding from other sources might hopefully become available.
Laing and Scicluna said the costs of the tower/spire restoration amounting to about €4 million will still mean considerable sums of money had to be found to meet their share of the co-financing of EU funding over the next two years.
“We very much hope to continue to count on the wonderful support and generosity of individual and corporate donors in Malta.”