The Malta Independent 16th April 2001
Mnajdra temple vandalism
Hunters interrogated
The police interrogated a number of hunters and trappers who frequent the area near the vandalised Mnajdra temples yesterday as part of their investigations into the case. Vandals damaged the 5,000-year-old Mnajdra temple in Qrendi between Thursday and Friday - knocking down or breaking more than 60 megaliths.
So far the police have interrogated several hunters and trappers, many of whom had built huts between Hagar Qim and Mnajdra.
Yet, as investigations continued yesterday, security consisted only of two museums department wardens during the day and police by night. Rips in the temple's wire fencing were still visible.
Hunters and trappers had strongly resisted the museums department's recent attempts to evict them from the area. The authorities are insisting that bird-catching structures should be dismantled because they jar with the site's archaeological status.
At least 20 make-shift huts can be seen from the Mnajdra temple's main entrance, and others are situated in the surrounding area.
In fact, heritage organisation Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna yesterday appealed to the authorities to clear all the illegal structures within the area.
"All forms of human activity beyond the cultural scope of the site are to be permanently terminated," FWA said. "We strongly feel that no more time can be lost in securing the site once and for all."
The organisation called for the closer control of visitors and vehicles entering the area and urged the government to invest in surveillance equipment.
In another statement yesterday, Alternattiva Demokratika accused the government of failing to protect the "common heritage of humanity".
AD chairman Harry Vassallo called for an inquiry into the case: "After the publication of the inquiry's report the minister responsible for our cultural heritage should also assume the political responsibility for what happened."
Meanwhile a rituals expert appointed by the inquiring magistrate is also examining the marks and crosses left by the vandals, which could be related to satanic rituals.
Culture Minister Louis Galea gave a direct order for restoration work on the temples "to go ahead as soon as possible".
The cost of restoration works on the temples has not yet been estimated, the minister said, although some of the damage is considered to be irreparable. A detailed report will be sent to Unesco.
The minister appointed architect Alex Torpiano to coordinate the project management of the restoration process. He said works will hopefully begin next week, depending on the police investigations going on.
The restoration works will be carried out by manual workers supervised by the Museums Department restoration management - the same team of people who had worked on the restoration of the megaliths which collapsed in 1994.
Asked whether the government intended transferring the management of the site to a private company, the minister replied that this was unlikely. Instead, the authorities were thinking of setting up a structure made up of the private, public and voluntary sectors for separate sites.
This would be regulated in the Heritage Act, which would "hopefully be discussed in parliament before the end of this year," he said.
Museums department staff had left the site unattended since Thursday at 4pm while the only watchman employed by the department was posted at Hagar Qim, far enough from the Mnajdra temple not to notice the vandalism that was going on.
The Mnajdra temple had already been the target of vandals five years ago, when someone sprayed graffiti on the megaliths the day after the 1996 general election. Since then the AFM and the police have been conducting sporadic night patrols although the temples remain largely vulnerable.
Dr Galea said that following the latest attack, security measures were taken and human resources were sent on site.
Greta Borg Carbott
© Standard Publications 2001
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