Wirt Ghawdex has said that two old guard stones, originally on a property in the old centre of Victoria, have recently gone missing.

The NGO, on a Facebook post has appealed to the local authorities, including the Victoria Local Council, to locate them and re-install them at their original site.

“All efforts should also be made to protect all other such stones,” Wirt Ghawdex said.

The NGO explained that guard stones were developed as an item of street furniture during the era of horse-drawn vehicles, but some are still in use today.There are still a number of guard stone or chasse-roue – a projecting stone considered an exterior architectural element located at the corner of houses to prevent damage from vehicle tires and wheels. The French word means in fact wheel chaser.

Wirt Ghawdex said that according to Gozitan historian Dr. Joseph Bezzina, the guard stones in Victoria should be doubly protected.

He noted that “first and foremost, they form part of the cultural heritage of Victoria. Secondly, and above all, most of the Victoria guard stones are nothing but remains of the temple dedicated to Juno upon ic-Cittadella, remains that were unearthed from beneath the Cathedral when it was being rebuilt between 1697 and 1711.”Today, early guard stones are considered cultural heritage objects and some countries, such as France and Belgium, even protecting them under specific heritage regulations, the NGO said.

Wirt Ghawdex stated that, “here in Victoria, they are being destroyed one after another.”

Photographs by Wirt Ghawdex

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