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The Triton Fountain is the central feature in City Gate Square, Valletta, capital of the Mediterranean island of Malta. This square also serves as the island’s central bus terminus.The Triton Fountain was sculpted by local sculptor Vincent Apap in 1959.To the southside of the fountain is the Malta Memorial, a commemorative monument for the 2,298 Commonwealth aircrew who lost their lives in the various Second World War air battles and engagements around the Mediterranean, and who were left unburied.
In 1978, the plate on top of the fountain was damaged, after the Malta Labour Party, who was at that time in government, organized song festivals on top of the fountain. The same fountain was left in a dilapidated state for years until the change of Government in 1987. On April 30, 2011, without any consultation with the public, the arts community and NGOs, the Government of Malta announced that it was moving the fountain from its present location in front of the entrance to the capital city Valletta. The Minister for Transport Dr. Austin Gatt declared that the fountain had to be moved a few metres in order to create an open space that will complement the new city gate project designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano.
The same Minister implied that Renzo Piano had made the recommendation to shift the Triton Fountain away from Valletta’s entrance to restore “the architectural and historical context of the entrance to the fortified city”, The proposal is controversial in that the Triton fountain is considered an iconic Maltese monument and its creator Vincent Apap was one of the more relevant Maltese visual artists of the 20th century.It also is symbolic of the era in which Maltese statehood emerges out of centuries of colonial domination. Further controversy lies in the fact that the fountain will be moved some fifty metres to the back sandwiched between two other monuments, that of the iconic Christ the King by renowned Maltese artist Antonio Sciortino and the Royal air force monument (Malta Memorial).
The suggested relocation implies that the fountain will not function as a fountain anymore and that it will lose some of the present structures attached to it. Furthermore, it is believed that the fountain’s relocation will aesthetically downgrade the two other monuments already in place at the intended relocation site. The move is considered controversial in that it is seen as a snub to Maltese visual art particularly to Apap, an eminent artist of the Modern period. Local experts such as Robert Cassar, curator of the Palace Armoury in Valletta have also voiced their concern regarding the proposed move insisting that if moved the bronze monument will be damaged. Cassar claims that the fountain is connected to a series of concrete channels, tunnels and reservoirs that are part and parcel of what is visible above ground indicating that technical considerations might have been overlooked in suggesting the move. Cassar implies that in reality in order to be moved the fountain has to be destroyed.
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