Malta’s capital, Valletta, is at risk of losing its UNESCO World Heritage status due to inaction by the government, particularly the Ministry of Culture, in implementing recommendations from the International Cultural Heritage Organization. Some of the recommendations date back more than a decade.
Valletta – Malta’s biggest selling point for tourists, Valletta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. However, due to overdevelopment and government inaction in recent years, that status is at risk.
In a strongly worded decision taken last month during the last UNESCO World Heritage Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Malta will have until the end of 2024 to provide an updated report on the status of Valletta’s conservation, in particular the management plan first requested in 2011. It was given to submit. .
The decision followed the submission of a report to the conference, in which experts noted that Malta had been working on a so-called Valletta Management Plan for years but had not reached a conclusion. lamented. “This is not yet finished,” the experts said, stressing that the plan was first requested some 12 years ago.
In 2017, a UNESCO advisory panel asked Malta to complete a management plan and ‘vistas and landscapes’ analysis report for Valletta to address growing concerns about how tall buildings impact the skyline. Recommended again. The mission also called on Malta to carry out a heritage impact assessment of all future major renovations and new construction in Valletta and to urgently appoint a site manager.
“The first two recommendations have not yet been completed,” UNESCO’s decision said, adding that “the appointment of the site administrator was completed only after a considerable delay, in 2023.”
The conference also expressed concern about recent reports received, particularly regarding the long-delayed museum renovation of St. John’s Co-Cathedral, the privatization of Evansville, and the development of Manoel Island.
“The redevelopment bid for Evansville appears to have only recognized the value of the façade and potential archaeological sites, and the website for the proposed redevelopment of Manoel Island near Valletta says that before the master plan was approved, It’s a shame that it was approved by “View and Vista Analysis” completed.
In its final recommendations, UNESCO urges Malta to promptly submit a Views and Vistas analysis that addresses the issue of height regulation in and around Valletta from a strategic perspective, and to delineate an appropriate buffer zone around the city. It called for it to be submitted for consideration by an advisory body for finalization. Finalize the management plan requested in 2011.
