‘The place is still a shambles’
Villa Guardamangia restoration will take at least five more years, Heritage Malta says
A repeated reference to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s happy Malta home in the final season of The Crown may have aroused global interest in Villa Guardamangia but it will not be opening to the public as a tourist attraction any time soon.
The home of Britain’s then Princess Elizabeth between 1949 and 1951 will remain a “war zone for quite some time, because the needs are extensive”, said Heritage Malta COO Kenneth Gambin.
He estimated that its restoration would take “at least another five years” – almost a decade after the national agency was entrusted with the project.
But although the prestigious, albeit crumbling, property looks much like it did five years ago, when the government bought it, intensive behind-thescenes work has meant EU funding can finally be applied for, further discoveries have been made – and even more damage borne.
The application for co-financing will be submitted by March, but Heritage Malta is not losing any time. Works are under way and the money – at least €10 million – will be recouped later.
Next month, parts of neighbouring properties, overlooking the iconic garden of the Grade 2 listed Guardamangia Hill monument, will be demolished at Heritage Malta’s expense, following agreement with their owners – because even the surrounding context counts.
Meanwhile, the situation inside was so bad and the building so fragile that damage was sustained even after Heritage Malta walked into the rundown former royal dwelling, Gambin said.
Water still seeps into the villa, so the ceilings were patched up – but they need to be replaced; while the garden walls were recently rebuilt after they collapsed when storm Helios dealt its heavy blow last February.
“We have done all the first aid required to keep it standing and now it is improving,” Gambin said, underlining the importance of the preparatory phase.
“The place is still in a shambles, but it was worse, I can assure you. It may be difficult to believe…” he said, pointing to the parts propped up.
Tons of inert waste and rubbish have been cleared, including the costly removal of asbestos. The excavation of a corner of the garden unearthed bits of the stone statues used to embellish it; tiles have been removed to be fixed, cleaned and returned; while extensive underground shelters, around three storeys deep, were emptied of the copious amount of rubble that filled them.
Off-site, documentation and research, bills of quantities and architectural surveys have been that have been compiled, so once the application is processed and approved, the ball will get rolling immediately.
The groundwork, a major task in itself, was ready; the walls have spoken, and information has been gleaned from interviews with people who lived and worked in the villa, as well as from local and foreign archives – although the architect of the property, a classic baroque example of an 18th-century Maltese country summer house, has not yet been discovered.
“We can now confidently say that we know what we are going
two years (when the Duke of Edinburgh was a naval officer stationed on the island). That was it!
“But in reality, the history of the building is much more than that, going back to at least the mid-18th century.”
Heritage Malta is taking a historic house approach to the restoration, focusing on the mid-20th century, while making sure not to cover up all the other layers of history and leave enough information to be read, interpreted and enjoyed.
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