NET-HERITAGE

Cultural Heritage Context

The Maltese Islands have a rich and fascinating cultural history spanning approximately 7,000 years. This legacy, unique in the Mediterranean, is reflected in the country’s national collections. However, the Maltese islands also possess a much more extensive patrimony of heritage assets, where its unique cultural landscape has been shaped by seven millennia of human activity. Geological features, topography and the intricate resources of the land have conditioned the many ways in which Maltese culture and identity have developed over the centuries.

From the Phoenicians and the Romans to the Knights of St John and the British, many cultures have made Malta their safe harbour, home, fortress or trading place. Lying at the near geographical centre of the Mediterranean, it is not surprising that the Islands acted as a magnet to so many settlers. Malta’s natural, deep harbours and position on major shipping routes made this small archipelago an attractive proposition from earliest times.

A result of this continuous settlement is a wealth of artefacts and architecture from the greater part of these periods in the Islands’ history. Malta’s national collections are a voyage of discovery of man and his environment from his earliest settlement here in caves some 7,400 years ago, to his present-day cultural ideas articulated in modern art.

Cultural Heritage Governance and Policy

The Maltese Government has emphatically outlined the importance of safeguarding Malta’s heritage, as this constitutes the cultural identity of the Maltese Islands, thus, occupying a significant niche in the tourism industry. Malta’s cultural heritage sector currently falls within the remit of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, which holds direct responsibility over national agencies which operate administratively, at arms length, from government, but which are however bound to follow policy measures and strategies set by the Ministry.

The Cultural Heritage Act of 2002 split the state-run Museums Department into two structures, dealing with regulation on the one hand and operations on the other. This Act and the National Cultural Heritage strategy, launched during the 2006 National Forum, clearly define the responsibilities and competences of each entity. The Cultural Heritage Act 2002 has defined a new cultural heritage framework for Malta, where the main objective of this framework is to ensure that Malta’s cultural heritage is adequately protected, conserved and promoted.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage assumes responsibility for regulation, where its mission is to fulfil the duties of the state in ensuring the protection and accessibility of Malta's cultural heritage.

Heritage Malta is the national government agency, set up in 2002 under the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act, entrusted with the operations and management of national museums and heritage sites and their related collections in Malta and Gozo, including seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites. As from 2005, following an amendment to the Cultural Heritage Act, all activities previously carried out by the former Malta Centre for Restoration have been taken over by Heritage Malta.

The agency is responsible for immobile heritage, developing measures to ensure educational promotion, accessibility, conservation and the proper operation and marketability of Malta's vast patrimony in heritage sites, buildings, collections and museums, both locally and overseas.

The Committee of Guarantee has been set up in order to ensure and facilitate the collaboration between the different agencies that have direct or indirect responsibility for the protection and management of the cultural heritage sector.

It is also responsible for advising the government on the National Strategy for Cultural Heritage.

Private cultural heritage foundations such as ‘Fondazzjoni Patrimonju’ and ‘Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna’ also assist in the restoration of heritage sites and in curating exhibitions of historical and artistic importance following the governmental policy to transfer a number of neglected properties to such organisations.

Cultural Heritage Funding

The Cultural Heritage Fund is a body corporate with a separate legal personality, which receives and manages monies paid to it under the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act, as well as other assets that may be donated by non-governmental sources. These are used for research, conservation or restoration of cultural heritage. The Fund is administered by the Committee of Guarantee, and the monies in the Fund may be used solely for the purpose of research, conservation or restoration of the cultural heritage. A yearly account of the administration of the Fund is submitted to the Minister and laid by him/her on the Table of the House.

Those entities responsible for cultural heritage must conduct their affairs such that the expenditure required for the proper performance of their functions shall, as far as practicable, be met out of their revenue. For such purpose, each entity levies fees, rates and other payments prescribed or deemed to be prescribed by or under the Cultural Heritage Act or any other law. Each entity is also paid by Government out of the Consolidated Fund such sums as the Ministry may from time to time authorise to be appropriated to meet the costs of specified works to be continued or otherwise carried out by it, being works of infrastructure or a similar capital nature, or to meet any of its expenditure which it cannot meet out of its revenue. Any excess of revenue over expenditure, subject to directives from the Minister, may be applied by each entity to the formation of reserve funds to be used for its purposes.

Cultural Heritage Research

The Cultural Heritage Act, as amended in 2005, states that Heritage Malta’s mission is to operate “a division for conservation, restoration, research and the training of conservation scientists and conservators.” 

Heritage Malta’s Institute of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage’s mission statement outlines the role it plays within Heritage Malta’s operations, including the aspect of research: “to promote and conduct quality education, training and collaborative research in conservation and management of cultural heritage, particularly within Malta's Euro-Mediterranean context.”

Research forms an integral part of the Institute’s undergraduate and postgraduate course offerings. A product of these courses is the dissertations, which generate material of a highly specialized nature, some at the forefront of knowledge in the fields of conservation and management of cultural heritage. In this regard, the Institute strongly encourages research on topics directly linked to Heritage Malta’s broader operations.

Abstracts of the dissertations produced thus far are being made available online to facilitate further research on these and related topics. Whilst contributing directly to Heritage Malta’s research projects, through the research undertaken as part of the aforementioned course offerings and also through the active participation in Heritage Malta’s research initiatives, including EU-funded projects, the Institute is responsible for facilitating and promoting research at large and is a key player in the drafting of policies and guidelines on research.

Since the Institute was given this responsibility in September 2005, it has successfully organized two research strategy seminars with the aim of contributing to the establishment of the new Heritage Malta research strategy and of defining the priorities of the Agency. Moreover, it chairs the Agency’s Research Strategy Committee which propels and monitors initiatives linked to the definition and management of Heritage Malta’s research strategy.

According to the Cultural Heritage Act, the Minister shall from time to time prepare a policy document outlining the National Strategy for Cultural Heritage. In preparing such document, the Minister shall consult with all the entities set up under this Act and those other agencies, whether public or otherwise, as the Minister may deem proper.

Cultural Heritage Education and Outreach

Since Heritage Malta is entrusted with all aspects of conservation of both museum conservation practice and cultural heritage, its Institute of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage runs undergraduate and postgraduate academic courses in the field of conservation together with the University of Malta and vocational courses organised in conjunction with the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). The Institute promotes and co-ordinates the pursuit of interdisciplinary studies and training at professional, technical and craftsman levels in all aspects of conservation-restoration and management of cultural heritage. The Institute is also committed to promote and coordinate training at various levels and to develop and conduct internationally recognised courses for various levels of proficiency and expertise.

Higher education is not the only route Heritage Malta provides in the development and conservation of cultural heritage. It also has a specific educational section with special educational programmes targeting children of different age groups as part of organised school visits. These educational programmes are based on the educational curriculum and address specific areas of study in an edutainment way. In addition, the Institute also offers a number of short courses available to the general public.

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