'Flame' monument at Castille costs taxpayers €112,000

It has cost the Maltese taxpayer €112,000, VAT included, to have Castille Square adorned with the latest creation of architect Valerio Schembri.

And that excludes the cost of installing the sculpture, which are to be borne by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation.

Schembri was commissioned by Heritage Malta to create a monument that would represent the struggle of each man and woman to have worked towards Malta’s sovereign status.

Dubbed 'A Flame That Will Never Die', the monument “celebrates the Maltese” who played a role in securing the island’s sovereignty and independence from foreign rule, and will be inaugurated at Valletta’s Castille Square on 12 May.

As the sculptor behind the Dom Mintoff monument, Schembri’s flame evokes that perennial symbol of Labour politics, the flaming torch. Whether this undying conflagration is the proper representation of the Maltese struggle towards independent nationhood, or just a lazy metaphor, may be subject to debate.

Undoubtedly, this is yet another gratuitous marker of the Labour administration’s milestones: the ‘knot’ monument that was erected in Castille Square to commemorate Malta’s hosting of the Valletta Summit on migration late last year cost €277,152.

So does the Flame portray that “journey to take destiny into its own hands leading to it having the current presidency of the European Council” - geddit? We were once a British colony, now we rule the EU.

Whatever symbolism the Maltese administration want to imbue this bronze creation with, the Facebook outcry already speaks volumes: a charred tree, an oversized conifer... a coral that would be better suited in an aquarium, are some of the reactions online.

A debate on Malta’s artistic commissions and how these get to occupy public spaces, seems to be well in order.