New lease of life
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici announced yesterday that €1 million will be spent on the restoration of Fort Ricasoli. Five parts of the fort require immediate attention, and work has already started on the first site. Photo: Alenka Falzon
Minister of Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Bonnici said yesterday morning €1 million will be spent on the restoration of Fort Ricasoli.
During a press conference, Architect Mark Azzopardi said that there are five parts of the fort that require immediate attention as they are at risk of collapsing due to damage caused by water. Work has already started on the first site, the Casemates battery in front of the No. 1 Curtain, and it is estimated that this part will be completed by next summer.
Further works include the Courtguard Wall, St Dominic’s Bastion and Casemates along the Tennaile Wall. Additionally, in collaboration with the University of Malta some studies are being made on the concrete used for the Fire Control Tower in Bastion No. 4 in order to better understand the materials needed for these interventions.
Earlier on this year, the executive coordinator of the Cottonera Rehabilitation Committee Glenn Bedingfield had spoken about plans for improving the overall situation Cottonera, and Fort Ricasoli was given high priority. In 2013 plans for the restoration of the fort were submitted to the Planning Authority and by June 2019 they were approved after various heritage NGOs called for attention to this historic site.
“Today you see in front of you the result of a decision we had taken on whether we should have a foundation for the improvement of Cottonera. After we saw the good that came with having a foundation for Valletta, which is an experience I lived through almost from the start, we decided that we should have a foundation for Cottonera,” Bonnici said.
Since the 1960s Fort Ricasoli, which is considered to be the largest fort in Europe, has seen little to no restoration work being done. This has attracted multiple foreign producers and film studios explained Malta Commissioner Johann Grech with blockbuster movies like Gladiator and Assassin’s Creed being filmed on the premises.
Bonnici commented on this saying that, “ironically, what attracts the film industry towards this location is the decapitated state it find itself in. But naturally if there are places that collapse we will lose everything. Therefore, we have to create an internal discussion regarding the interest of the locals and the interests of the film industry and I believe that together we can achieve this.”
He thanked everyone involved in the project and credited the fact that this is the first time in recent history that ewe have been able to all come together and pull the same rope.
The completion of all these works is estimated to be 2021.