Sacred turns profane for Ta’ Pinu’s car park plans
James Debono
MEPA is being called on by its own natural heritage panel to refuse an application for a 5,000m2 car park at the Ta’ Pinu church in Gharb, together with a visitors’ centre and retreat house.
The panel called the car park to be constructed outside the church dedicated to the apparition of the Virgin Mary, as “one of the largest Outside Development Zones (ODZs) developments the panel has ever been asked to comment on.”
It added that the “uptake of so much agricultural land” was unacceptable, and described the façade of the proposed retreat house as “visually obnoxious”.
It also said the visitors’ centre could be located within existing buildings.
“The whole development as proposed will ruin the unique character and landscape in the area.”
The panel’s claims are disputed by Ta’ Pinu’s Rector Fr Gerrard Buhagiar, who claims that without the car park, pilgrims visiting the shrine – sometimes numbering in their thousands – will create traffic jams.
Ta’ Pinu’s shrine has attracted pilgrims since 1883, when Karmni Grima, 45, heard a call while passing by a rural chapel on her way back home from the nearby fields. She claimed the voice which had come from the image of the Blessed Virgin in the same chapel. In the 1920s, a decision was taken to build a monumental sanctuary to accommodate the crowds, and in 1932 the new Church was blessed and opened to the public.
The area is mostly agricultural land owned by the church, with the only existing buildings being a public convenience, a tourist information shop, and a small, old building.
Buhagiar said the development would respect the natural characteristics of the place, which is designated by MEPA as a bird sanctuary. “Our aim is to keep Ta’ Pinu a place of quiet and prayer… It’s not our aim to have too many buildings, and the retreat house will replace an existing room.”
He also pointed out that all sanctuaries in the world have a retreat house where pilgrims can sleep over. He said Ta’ Pinu was inundated by pilgrims’ requests, including foreigners, to conduct their retreats in this tranquil place.
He also defended plans for the enlarged car park by pointing out that while only three trees presently exist, the new car park will include 50 trees. The church intends to remove non-indigenous trees like acacia – which the rector said is a source of hay fever – from the Gholja tal-Ghamar and to replace them with olive trees, which he hastened to add had a biblical connotation. “We want to turn the hill in to a religious park where people can pray in the tranquility of nature.”
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