3 comments so far.Recession takes its toll as Gozo Heritage closes down
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Seven thousand years of living history have sadly been lost as the Gozo Heritage Museum in Ghajnsielem was forced to close its doors last week, with one former senior employee citing the inability of independent Gozitan attractions to compete with the low rates that Heritage Malta offers tour operators.
Former Gozo Heritage Director Brian Mizzi, who conceived the idea of the museum, said that it had been losing money for the past four years and they “stuck it out” for as long as they could, but were just not getting enough business.
The number of day-trippers visiting Gozo with tour operators has gradually decreased, and companies organising the tours are reluctant to include paying attractions to optimise their own profits, Mr Mizzi said.
He also acknowledged that Gozo Heritage could not compete with the rates offered by Heritage Malta to tour operators but said he accepted that the national heritage organisation needed to be competitive.
The Heritage Malta temples at Ggantija are a popular destination for tour operators, as well as the Citadel in Victoria, which contains the Heritage Malta Gozo Museum of Archaeology and the Old Prison.
A former senior employee, who declined to give his name, said he was “very hurt” by the closure, which led to the loss of 10 jobs. According to him, the museum never recovered from losing significant business due to the reconstruction of the Mgarr-Ghajnsielem road in 2006 and 2007. The roadworks caused tour operators to stop visiting the museum, and they did not return when the roadworks were completed. No compensation was offered by the government for the loss of the business which was caused by the road closure.
Gozo Heritage officially opened in 1988 and was housed in a large house on the Mgarr road in Ghajnsielem. It consisted of a journey through a sequence of areas, each of which presented an aspect of Gozitan history from the past 7,000 years using faithfully reproduced reconstructions with atmospheric lighting and sound effects.
I was saddened and disappointed to read of the closure of Gozo Heritage.Five years ago my family and I visited Gozo from Australia and visited the site. I was so intrigued and fascinated that I went back again in case I missed something. I luckily videod my entire visit and have showed many people my video which depicts the history of Gozo. My question is why was Gozo Heritage not given a life support by he Government? These museums give so much information into Malta’s history and should never close in fact they should be promoted to potential visitors to the island. Once again I’m bitterly disappointed and hope maybe a private sponsor could give a lifeline to reopen this historic site.
Sincerly
Charles Muscat
Melbourne,Australia
I visited Gozo Heritage my second day on the island. Pretty amazing! And like others, I returned a number of times over the years I lived on Gozo, with and without visitors in tow. In fact, it so inspired me that I worked with then Xaghra Mayor, Joe Spiteri, and a spectacular group of Gozitans to organize and produce “Ggantija Alive!”
It was the first light and sound show held at one of the temples and meant to bring alive the story of Sansuna and how she built the temples. About 1500 families came to learn about the legend of the giantess who carried 50 ton boulders on her head, up to Xaghra to build Ggantija.
According to UNESCO, the Ggantija temples are the oldest free-standing structures in the world. Think 10,000 years! Gozo Heritage introduced them to me and to hundreds of other visitors. Thanks to everyone at Gozo Heritage who worked long and hard to reveal the mysteries of Gozo. Their show will be missed.
Let me have a guess:
Will there be a what is now-a-days called a ‘Redevelopment’ of the Gozo Heritage to be turned into residential units?