A campaign is currently underway to save a house beside the Cittadella in Gozo, attributed to Guze DAmato, known as the architect responsible for the Xewkija and Ghajnsielem parish churches. This house boasts a treasure of interior details of the highest design, and craftsmanship which has led to such a splendid built example.
We often tend to forget that such craftsmanship is a valuable part of our heritage. While scheduling buildings ensures that they are preserved for future generations to admire, we need to ask why the age of a building or the period when it was constructed become such an overly important factor. The artisanal skills such buildings exemplify are equally as important.
Visiting St John’s Cathedral in Valletta leaves most people in awe of what has been described as the most beautiful floor in the world. Not just because the marble used is valuable, or old, or from a time far behind us in history, but more so because of the skills that many craftsmen had developed in transforming stone slabs into such delicate tapestries of patterns and symbols. To begin with a raw slab, draw a design onto it, cut out delicate pieces and backfill these with further colours and textures, hardly leaving a visible seam but creating a visual sensation for our eyes: such craftsmanship is part and parcel of Malta heritage.
A visit to the numerous family vaults at Addolorata Cemetery paints an equally fascinating picture. Here we can appreciate how something as basic as iron is forged and transformed by skilled tradesmen into iron gates which look more like elaborate lace curtains than pieces of metal. To take a piece of iron, heat it, hammer it, bend it, reshape it together with countless other pieces to create the work we see: that is excellence. It is important to remember that the work process is an art in itself, and as budgetary and time constraints seldom lead to the commissioning of such pieces of art today, we should focus on saving these examples as a part of our heritage, as a reminder to ourselves and our children that such skills are a part of this nation’s legacy, even if we do not see them much implemented today.
The Villa Alhambra in Sliema gives an example of how skilled artisans were able to transform mere stone into the most spectacular Moorish design details. Crude stone, quarried, arranged and cut by able hands, to create a facade which intrigues our sense of beauty and sophistication. All this under the able instruction and guidance of a skilled architect or designer. The results we see today are therefore the culmination of several trades and committed workmanship uniting to craft an elegant design. We need to acknowledge the brilliance underlying such built examples.
To go back to the initial example in Gozo – we have before us a building which was designed with the utmost care and attention to detail. Be it the facade, the proportions of its rooms or the sweeping staircase, all are the result of a blend of various trades coming together to create a sense of space, movement and grandeur. The craftsmen commissioned to transform D Amato designs are certainly worthy of praise. Not only is it important to protect such masterpieces from falling into ruin, or worse yet, wilfully demolishing them, but we must also acknowledge the artisanal craftsmanship which went into such marvellous creations.
As with any piece of art, it is the skill and craftsmanship with which it was created that is the benchmark of its value, more than its age. This is part of our national heritage just as much as any fine Baroque interior.
