The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has a World Heritage Committee which works to identify and ensure the preservation of sites of important cultural and natural heritage around the world. The target is to safeguard such important properties for future generations. The World Heritage List currently includes 890 sites worldwide – these include 689 cultural sites, 176 natural sites and 25 mixed sites. Malta can boast of having 3 cultural World Heritage Sites – the city of Valletta, Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum and the Megalithic Temples of Malta (these consist of seven temples in Malta and Gozo – the two temples of Ggantija in Gozo and the temples of Hagar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien, Ta’ Hagrat and Skorba in Malta).
Inclusion on the list means that these three sites (well, nine really, since there are seven Megalithic temples!) are of “outstanding universal value”. Sites that achieve World Heritage status are viewed as ones that “represent a masterpiece of human creative genius” and which are “an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape”.
Having three World Heritage sites is an honour for Malta. It is testament to the rich heritage that is packed on this small island of ours. Valletta, for example, is described in glowing terms by the World Heritage Committee – “Valletta’s 320 monuments, all within an area of 55ha, make it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world.”
Thus it was a big shock to hear that our capital city’s status as a World Heritage Site is currently under question. It seems that human creative genius was at play when designing and building the city in 1565, but that human destructive genius has over the last few years proceeded to cast a shadow over it!
The World Heritage Committee met earlier this year, and one of the topics it discussed was Valletta. The committee members were concerned about the lack of clear building height limitations in the city and its surroundings, the lack of a properly defined buffer zone and the meagre information provided on the proposed Renzo Piano projects for City Gate.
So here we are now, at risk of having our capital city
knocked off the prestigious World Heritage list or put on the ignominious “Endangered List” – for all the world as though Valletta were in danger of ending up extinct.
In fact we are actually in danger of getting hit with a double whammy, since the status of the Ggantija Temple complex is also under question. Apparently a permit was issued for the extension of a single farmhouse into three separate villas, each with its own swimming pool – and this just 20 metres south of the Xaghra Circle. The three-storey construction falls within the temples’ buffer zone and has a considerable impact on the general scenery in the area – in fact it is clearly visible from within the Xaghra Stone Circle itself.
It seems that the Maltese have in just a few years managed to destroy what took our ancestors years of blood and sweat and tears to build. It truly does take a form of genius to achieve that – human destructive genius!
Truly distinguished women Earlier this week I was honoured to be included as one of the “Distinguished Women” featured in a local business magazine. As I leafed through the publication, reading about several local success stories, I started to think about women I look up to, women who are truly making an impact in the world, and who are role models for all of us – men and women alike.
The first one to spring to mind is obviously Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is an opposition politician and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma. Ms Suu Kyi was first placed on house arrest in 1989, and has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.
The sacrifices that this woman has had to endure are many, and I cannot begin to imagine the suffering that she has been through. Separated from her family, she was not even able to see her husband when he was dying of cancer, and has not been allowed to see her two sons for years.
However this tenacious woman is obviously not going to give in. She espouses Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent protest, and is very much aware of the fact that her plight serves as a constant reminder worldwide of the dictatorship of the Burmese Junta.
One of her most famous quotes is: “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”
This quote is truly worth pondering on.
Another woman who has truly made an impact in the world is Chechen activist and journalist Natalya Estemirova, who was kidnapped and murdered last month – shot twice in the head at close range. For years this intrepid woman had worked on sensitive cases of human rights abuse, investigating hundreds of cases of alleged kidnappings, torture and killings by Russian government troops or paramilitaries in Chechnya.
She was particularly moved by the plight of children and women in the war, and chronicled the suffering and deaths of these victims through hundreds of photos.
Ms Estemirova knew that her activities were irritating people in high places, and that her life was in danger. Her murder was not the first killing of a human rights activist in Chechnya – in 2006 Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who campaigned on injustices in Chechnya was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building.
These women’s courage is something that is truly awe-inspiring. They dedicated their life working to bring to light injustice and cruelty, in the hope of making a difference. Ultimately it was their death that drew the attention of the world to what is happening in Chechnya.
And finally, another woman who was in the news recently was Corazon Aquino, who died on the 1st August. Ms Aquino was the first female president of the Philippines. She took over the leadership of the opposition when her husband was assassinated, and in 1986 was the leader of the People Power Revolution, a peaceful uprising that swept the country after serious allegations were made of election-rigging in favour of Marcos.
Women like these are truly an inspiration. They prove that whatever our background and whatever our circumstances, each and every one of us can make an impact in the world we live in.
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The World Heritage List currently includes 890 sites worldwide – these include 689 cultural sites, 176 natural sites and 25 mixed sites. Malta can boast of having 3 cultural World Heritage Sites – the city of Valletta, Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum and the Megalithic Temples of Malta (these consist of seven temples in Malta and Gozo – the two temples of Ggantija in Gozo and the temples of Hagar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien, Ta’ Hagrat and Skorba in Malta).
