Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/556862
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 AUGUST 2015 15 portant, yet we are just sitting with it and not giving it the importance it deserves…" Even on an iconographic level, the tapestries have a significance of their own as part of the Baroque artistic canon. Apart from adding a layer of ostentation to an already elabo- rate Cathedral, the collection itself pays homage to the 'triumph of the Eucharist'. "At the time, this was one of the major themes of the Counter-Ref- ormation. There was a topical rel- evance to the set which went beyond decoration. The tapestries tell a sto- ry; but it can only be told in full when all 29 of them are displayed together. You won't get this effect by exhibit- ing only three or four of them. It's similar to having a set of fine bone china. You don't put out two or three plates when entertaining… you put out the entire set…" Coming back to the main concerns raised by objectors: these include the visual impact on St John's itself, and also – separately – the fact that mod- ifications will have to be made to the Great Siege monument. This latter detail is particularly emotive, as this 'monument' is widely regarded as the final resting place of the Knights who fell defending Malta in 1565. Some have therefore described the proposal as a 'sacrilege' which would 'desecrate' a graveyard of extreme cultural and historical significance… But De Giorgio is already shaking her head before I finish the sentence. "There is no 'desecration' involved here. Even the terminology that's being used is inaccurate. First of all, graves are not 'sacred' – that word applies only to the divine. Even if it's the grave of a great hero… great he- roes are not gods. Their graves can- not be 'desecrated'…" In any case, she adds, the reality is that there are no graves under that monument at all. "The place was bombed in the war. There are no bones left… maybe a few scraps, but it is not correct to describe the site as a graveyard. The base of the monu- ment you see today is actually con- crete, and it was raised there in the 1960s. What they tried to do back then was preserve the memory of the Great Siege fallen: not their remains, which had been lost. The most im- portant issue is to perpetuate the memory... and the design will specifi- cally aim at doing the same." Again she points towards artists' impressions to show that the 17th century monument would be given greater prominence under the new designs. "What I find insane about all this is: do they really think that myself, as curator, or the council – three of whom are Monsignori – would ob- literate the Great Siege monument? If that happened, we'd deserve the worst…" Another misconception concerns the possibility of excavating the courtyard. Some people, De Giorgio suggests, may be confusing today's project with the 2010 one. "I don't want to mix the two, because they are very different. Under these pro- posals there will be no excavations at all, except for a basement under- neath the arches. There are already basements there; but for them to be made available to the public, there is an EU law that states a public space has to be of a certain height. So about 80cm would need to be excavated to meet that criterion…" As for the view of the Cathedral, De Giorgio returns to her argument that the impact must be viewed in the context of the project's benefits. "This is not a Gothic cathedral. This is not Chartres or Notre Dame, or the Duomo. A Gothic cathedral's beauty is external; in St John's, the focus is on the interior, not the ex- terior. Besides, there will be minimal visual impact on the first floor." What about the surrounding street- scape? Wouldn't going up one storey permanently alter the alignment of Merchants Street? She shakes her head. "Photomon- tages were prepared when applying for the permit. The addition to St John's will not be higher than the surrounding buildings. Besides, what a lot of people don't know is that this area was built over after being bombed in the war. There was no view of the Cathedral from Mer- chants Street…." She produces a photograph dating to 1920, taken at the corner of Mer- chants and Sta Lucia Streets. The buildings (all destroyed in the blitz of 1942) were originally three storeys high. "When this area was rebuilt in 1964, there was a decision to leave the courtyard visible from the street, and to stop at one storey. But that was never the original intention…" Ultimately, it all boils down to a choice of priorities. "What would you prefer: to have the view as it is, or to have the tapestries exhibited prop- erly? You will always lose something; but you have to also see what you're gaining…" Is she concerned that the resistance might derail the project, as similar objections did in the past? "I am disappointed at the unin- formed critics. We have been work- ing on this project for two years. We have gone through all the commit- tees of the competent authorities: from the superintendence of cultural heritage, to the heritage protection unit, to the heritage advisory board, through all the MEPA committees. Do you think they haven't asked the same questions? Of course they have…" Has there been any similar com- munication between the Foundation and the project's main objectors: for instance, Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar? "No," she replies simply. "They nev- er asked. Had they asked, we would have been more than happy to show them the plans. Din l-Art Helwa, on the other hand, asked for a meeting and we discussed the project in de- tail. And they're not objecting…" The concept of the project has been accepted by the highest author- ities, she adds. "It is only a handful of people who are objecting. I don't think a handful is representative of the entire nation. A lot of other peo- ple are commenting positively about the project. To begin with, the tourist guides. They keep asking us when the new museum will be complete…" To be fair, I don't think FAA's ob- jection is to the intention behind the project… but rather its execution. One argument, for instance, is that the collection could be housed else- where in Valletta: this might even provide the impetus to restore a ne- glected site… "But where can we put them? The set belongs to the St John's Church... it wouldn't make sense to house it anywhere else. Apart from that, you have 780 square metres of tapestry to exhibit. Is there anywhere in Valletta, close enough to the Cathedral, that has that kind of space available?" As for somehow making better use of the available space (another argu- ment that has been raised), that is very clearly impossible. "The space we have today is very confined. It was built in the 1960s, when the number of tourists visiting Malta would have been very small. Those who criticise clearly do not understand the pres- sures of having to handle 2,000 tour- ists in a day. Even they themselves pass comments like, 'how do you allow us to practically brush against the tapestries?' St John's is the most visited site in the Maltese islands. We must give the best experience and service possible." This brings us to another pressing concern: the possibility of damaging the tapestries themselves. How vul- nerable are they? And what's been done to preserve them to date? "The Foundation is in the process of restoring the entire collection, and has already spent €1 million in the process. The project started in 2006, and should be completed by 2018. It takes a year to restore a tapestry. Two a year are sent back to Brus- sels, where they were made, to be washed, rolled onto looms again… every square centimetre is studied and repaired…" For all this, the collection proved to be in fairly good shape. "The colours had faded, but only slightly: bear in mind that for most of that time they were rolled up and kept in storage. They were only hung on display in the Cathedral once a year for a few weeks. But now, they are not only 'liturgical accessories'. Now they are works of art. We need to house them in a museum with the right light- ing conditions… because light is the most damaging element to tapes- tries. Ultraviolet rays actually disin- tegrate the fabric… it becomes hard and brittle, and literally dusts off…" All this raises the question of why there is so much resistance in the first place. How does Cynthia De Giorgio account for it herself? "Those who criticise have misun- derstood the project. It's as simple as that. And some people won't ac- cept change, even if it's change for the better. Should I compare it to the tapestry of the Triumph of the Church, which shows Ignorance and Blindness being trampled by Ec- clesia's chariot? If you cannot see the value in exhibiting this priceless set of tapestries, you must be blind…" Interview CYNTHIA DE GIORGIO, curator of the St John's Co-Cathedral museum, defends plans to build an extension for a priceless collection of 29 17th century Flemish tapestries Flemish controversy… The truth is we are not giving these works of art the importance they deserve. And it reflects on how poorly we value our cultural heritage HERITAGE