St John’s Co-Cathedral Crypt: Compelling evidence puts commissioner’s decision on damage into question

The Shift is revealing an internal technical report compiled by project managers regarding ongoing delayed restoration works of the 1604 Bartolott Crypt at St John’s Co-Cathedral following damage incurred.

The report, which The Shift is publishing in its entirety, confirms severe damage to centuries-old stone slabs after a heavy raised flooring structure was installed.

It calls into question an ‘investigation’ by architect Alan Saliba, the Commissioner for the Environment and Planning at the Ombudsman’s Office.

The commissioner issued a report stating that no damage had occurred. Yet the report being published, initially not even shown to members of the Foundation’s board, confirms that the heavy structure led to the subsiding of parts of the flagstone flooring above the cavern vaults, the resting place of some 600 Knights.

Compiled in April 2024, just a few weeks after the damages were noticed, the report calls for immediate action to correct the damage to the antique flagstone floor.

It states that following the installation of the raised flooring structure, “it has been noticed that several stone slabs (ċangatura) have subsided in localised areas when subjected to normal service loading.”

The report, compiled by AP Projects, the same architects who designed the heavy structure that led to the damage, proposed interventions to correct the damage.

Experts told The Shift that before the installation last year, the architects were warned that the structure was poorly designed and too heavy for the antique flooring.

The report includes pictures of the damaged floor.

Commissioner sees nothing

Earlier this week, the Commissioner for Environment and Planning in the Ombudsman’s office published a four-page ‘investigation’ in which he declared that what The Shift revealed last January was incorrect, as he did not find any damage when he visited the Crypt months after the incident happened.

Replying to a call for an investigation by ADPD following The Shift’s reports, Saliba concluded that “the complaint alleging damages at the Bartolott Crypt and contributions to the same by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage is found not to be sustained.”

When The Shift asked the commissioner who he had consulted, to explain how he had arrived at such conclusions, and whether the Foundation had provided him with the AP’s unpublished report, Saliba “declined the request”.

Architects and heritage experts familiar with the damage inside the Crypt were shocked by Saliba’s conclusions.

“We would like to know who Saliba consulted, what independent experts he appointed and how he arrived at his unsustained conclusions despite pictures clearly showing the damage caused,” they said.

In his short report, Saliba said that he made a site inspection “where representatives of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, of the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, project architects and project managers were present”.

The Shift reported that the Foundation had tried to keep the accident hidden from public scrutiny.

Mounting scandals and loss of funds

Meanwhile, the Foundation, managed by Mgr Emmanuel Agius—a professor of ethics and morality handpicked by Archbishop Charles Scicluna—has not yet explained why the issue was kept hidden from public scrutiny.

Agius has also remained mum on questions about the never-ending delays in the Bartolott Crypt’s restoration project amid claims that hundreds of thousands of EU funds were lost due to the project’s mismanagement.

The Shift has reported that according to plans, the Crypt, which is being turned into an exhibition space for the Co-Cathedral’s Silver Collection, had to be opened in 2022.

Some €3.5 million of EU funds were allocated for the project under the European Regional Development Programme in 2017.

However, due to mismanagement and delays, including recent damages, the Foundation is expected to lose close to €1 million of EU funds.

At Mgr Agius’s direct instruction, the Foundation recently also ‘invested’ some €70,000 for a crib when experts questioned its value.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who confirmed that he learned about the damages in the Crypt through The Shift, has also launched an investigation, including the massive delays in the museum extension project. So far, no information has been made public on this probe.

The extension of the Co-Cathedral Museum, one of the most visited places on the island, had to be ready by 2018. Seven years after its planned opening date, no one knows when the extension will be completed and the final cost.

In 2023, the Foundation’s CEO, Tonio Mallia, said the project would open in 2025 and cost €13 million. The Shift is informed that this estimate falls short of actual costs.

Read the report on damages to the crypt.