Who started this “majestic Valletta” nonsense? It looks pretty, certainly, from some angles, but majestic?

Because actually the situation is tragicomic, and as for Malta and all the achievements that the PN has attained over all these years, all this is a full blown tragedy.

Clearly you are an expert on architecture! A country of uncultured peasants led by uncultured fools.

In a few years’ time, Muscat – if he is still there – will be boasting about the ‘state of the art’ Piano project, in hindsight of course.

The Parliament building was, is and will remain a horrible structure that ruins one’s view when entering a majestic city such as Valletta.

If the PN wanted to do something beautiful to Valletta, they should have instead removed the equally ugly flats on the left hand side.

Visitors today want to see the genuine product that is linked to its history, site context and which reflects society its function and its use.

Hence visiting the Renzo Piano parliament house is about Renzo Piano and modern architectural concepts, nothing more nor less. Visiting Valletta is about the Knights of St. John and the design of a baroque city. Visiting Hagar Qim is about prehistory.

Visiting St. John’s Co cathedral is about State and Church within the context of the knights political situation in the Med. Visiting fortifications is about military history, conquest domination survival of society.

All the so called museums housing collections are outdated as they don’t give the pure context and send the right message to the audience. Audiences today aren’t daft anymore – they either see Caravaggio at St. John’s in its pure context or they aren’t interested in it at all.

Pulling collections out of pure contexts is just tantamount to seeing a bunch of items in your grandma’s showcase in her sitting room. These collections nowadays can only survive in the context of a collector’s home (damn, it has to be a good collection and the collector needs to be an important person) or else they have to be found in a stately home, historic house or a palace.

Its about value and authenticity. Gone are the days of the Victorian showcase, or enlightenment exhibition.

Whoever came up with this crass idea has no concept of the value of museums, sites and collections in today’s society.

The taster museum they are talking about could be a bunch of images on the net or a promo, very much what Joseph Muscat just performed for his 100 days in power.

Oh God if these are the ideas that we are going to see lined up for V18, we are going to be most derided by our cultural colleagues.

My thoughts.