Comino mortuary worthy of protection at risk of demolition

A Cultural Heritage report authored by leading archaeologists has warned against any expansion of existing tourism facilities in Comino.

Plans presented by the Hili subsidiary HV Hospitality foresee a significant reduction in the footprint of the existing hotel at San Niklaw, and the restoration of 7,154sq.m of presently built land. But the masterplan foresees an extension of the bungalow village by 3,697sq.m, increasing the density in this part of the island.

The serviced bungalows will be for sale, and prospective owners can opt to put their property in a rental pool, serviced by the hotel.

“Any development should be limited to the footprint of its predecessors and not extended any further. Both Santa Marija Bay and San Niklaw Bay do not afford further encroachment,” the report, which forms part of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the the Comino hotel and bungalow village, states.

The EIA concludes that the impact on the cultural landscape at the hotel site in San Niklaw is “neutral” because of the absence of cultural heritage features in the vicinity of the hotel.

“However, given that the bungalows will occupy a larger area, they will approach the Chapel and two Grade 2 features are proposed to be removed; the impact on the cultural landscape at the village is considered to be of major significance.”

The report recommends protection for various structures at Comino, including a mortuary slated for demolition to make way for an expansion of bungalows in Santa Marija bay. The room was used to house the hearse serving Comino’s isolation hospital.

The report, based on a site-surface survey, includes an inventory of cultural heritage features deserving protection.

The authors say no further tracks should be added, and the present ones should “not be widened, since rubble walls and cultural features are found along them, given that these served as the main connecting network throughout the years.”

Furthermore any works on Comino should be treated like “works on an archaeological site”, and should be monitored and supervised under the directions of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. “No cultural feature should be lost”.

The one-room building has a large arched entrance, and is located 60m away from the police station. The archaeologists insist the room merits a Grade 2 level of protection “not only because of its method of construction, but also because of the purpose it served and its link to the Isolation Hospital”.

Normally demolition for buildings accorded such protection is precluded.

The mortuary, which officially does not enjoy any protection, is presently used by the Maltese government as a storeroom for maintenance and waste management work on the island. A Nissen hut, also meriting protection, is also being proposed for demolition.

The EIA also recommends protection to a number of structures which will not be impacted by the project but which presently lack any protection. These include the two police stations one at Santa Marija Bay built back in 1743, and one overlooking the channel between Comino and Cominotto, now being used as a public convenience and public showers. “It is a pity that the original inscription on the lintel of one of the doorways has been covered with the public convenience sign,” the authors note.

The report recommends that the island of Comino as a whole should be considered as a unique cultural feature, apart from being designated as a Rural Conservation Area, dispelling the misconception that the island is poor in cultural heritage.

“Cultural features vary from the Santa Marija tower, which is the main landmark of Comino visible from Malta and Gozo, to the rubble walls, quarrying, reservoirs and fields that have helped in the transformation of the landscape throughout the years while functioning in a remote landscape with limited resources.”

Even the smallest of features plays a role in the landscape of the island, for example the memorial to Salvu Said, who died in 1949 in a petard-related incident linked to the feast of the Sacred Heart, which is no longer celebrated in Comino. The EIA says the memorial “stands witness to the popular religious culture that requires the memory of the ones we lose to be commemorated.”

The report was authored by authored by archaeologists Kurt Balzan O’Dea, Daniel Borg, Marlene Borg, Joseph Calleja, and Ernest Vella from Archaeology Services Co-operative Ltd.