Casino Notabile restorations to be aided by EU funds

Restoration works on the Casino Notabile in Mdina will be boosted by the allocation of €400,000 in EU funds, parliamentary secretary for EU funds and 2017 Presidency Ian Borg said.

Visiting the site this morning, Borg said the funds will mainly be used to strengthen the foundations of the 125-year-old building.
"It's a shame that a site of such historic value has been allowed to deteriorate," Borg said. "If all goes well, we'll see Casino Notabile open its doors to the public in the near future." 

Last week, MaltaToday reported that the Mdina local council has issued a tender for a “concession” for the use of the Casino Notabile building at Saqqaja, in Rabat.

The council has also presented plans for the restoration of the historical building.  Paul Spiteri, the council’s executive secretary, confirmed that the call for tenders is now closed.

Borg said the restoration works should be completed by next year.

The Mdina local council has not specified the use of the casino in the tender issue. “We left all options open… it could be a restaurant, a bank, an office, a cultural centre.”

The council has also presented plans for the restoration of the building, through its architect, Robert Musumeci.

The plans do not foresee any additions to the building except for works meant to stabilise its foundations.

Completed in 1887, the Casino Notabile was built by nobles residing in Mdina as a venue for their social gatherings. For this purpose they commissioned British civil engineer Paulson Webster, the civil engineer for the Royal Opera House in Valletta, to carry out the works.

The Casino replaced a washroom built around 100 years earlier.

In 2005 the Department for Local Councils turned down a request by the Rabat local council to take over the site with the idea of transforming it into a cultural and art centre – the building falls under the jurisdiction of the Mdina council, to which it subsequently was devolved.

In 2005 the site was earmarked by the Department for Local Councils as an “exhibition hall and as a venue for conferences and lectures”.

In 2012 the government decided that the Casino Notabile should remain supported by scaffolding for the foreseeable future as other restoration work in Mdina, like the one on Vilhena Palace and the Despuig and Magazine were deemed to take precedence.

Mdina mayor Peter dei Conti Sant Manduca said that studies carried out on the Casino Notabile showed that the main problem was the building’s foundations, which suffered from the same problem as the bastions beneath Vilhena Palace: a fault in the rock that ran right through to the Casino.