Reconciling urban heritage with Suomenlinna Sea Fortress the needs - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Presentation at

4th Heritage Forum of Central Europe

Krakow 1 -2 June 2017

Reconciling urban heritage with the needs of urban communities

• Dr. John Ebejer

Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture University of Malta

john.ebejer@um.edu.mt

Suomenlinna Sea Fortress Helsinki, Finland Fort St. Elmo Valletta, Malta

Suomenlinna Sea Fortress

Suomenlinna part of presentation is researched from various sources including : Governing Body of Suomenlinna (2000) Suomenlinna: Conservation ad Reuse Governing Body of Suomenlinna (2012) AT FORT Self-Analysis report

Photo source: Governing Body of Suomenlinna (2000) Suomenlinna: Conservation ad Reuse

Suomenlinna – this presentation

• Physical preservation of the monument
• Local community
• Place of work
• Tourism, recreation and culture
• A diverse landscape
• Management and funding

Physical preservation of the monument

• Lines of fortifications
• Various buildings spread out on the landscape

Physical preservation of the monument

• Lines of fortifications

Physical preservation of the monument

• Various buildings

Local community

• Home to 900 permanent residents
• Both a museum and a living part of the city
• Objective : increase of permanent population
• Ongoing programme of conversion of historic buildings

mostly to residential use

• Ongoing renovation of residential units

Residents are provided with basic municipal services including transport connection, the school and the day care centre. Other services available on the main island include a church, food shop, a sports hall, a library, a public beach and a sport field. Health services are only available on the mainland although a service tunnel allows for the passage of emergency vehicles.

Place of work

Tourism, recreation and culture

Photos in this slide sourced from: Governing Body of Suomenlinna (2000) Suomenlinna: Conservation ad Reuse

• First took visitors in the 1930s
• Tourism and recreation facilities developed

progressively over the years

• Suomenlinna Visitor Centre opened in 1998

with range of tourism facilities.

• Another five museums open only in summer
• Facilities for conferences and functions
• 700,000 visitors annually.
• two major visitor groups:
• Helsinki residents who spend leisure time there
• tourists who come to see the fortress

Tourism, recreation and culture

Photos in this slide sourced from: Governing Body of Suomenlinna (2000) Suomenlinna: Conservation ad Reuse

Suomenlinna visitor centre

A diverse landscape

Management and funding

• Single agency responsible
• Suomenlinna Governing Body established in the 1970s
• SGB led by a Board with representatives of government

and city agencies + two elected resident representatives

• Masterplan in 1974 with a 20 year programme of works
• Allocated an annual budget for repairs maintenance

and restoration (12 million euros in 2011)

• Generates its own income through rental of residential

units and of other buildings and facilities including tourism related facilities

• SGB strives to increase visitor numbers to increase

income.

Suomenlinna Sea Fortress - Lessons learnt

• A historic monument cannot be seen in isolation

from its context, namely the landscape and the human activity

• Having a resident community creates vitality and

makes the monument more interesting

• Tourism and recreation provides good
• pportunities to generate income to sustain the

maintenance and upkeep of the monument

• Having a single agency responsible ensures a

coordinated approach

• A long term vision is essential

Fort St. Elmo project Museum and ramparts walk

General view of the Fort St. Elmo fortification system: The site consists of a large number of relatively small buildings within the fort and outside it, as well as numerous open spaces.

Source: Spiteri, Stephen (2001) Fortresses of the Knights

B A B C B

• A. Fort St. Elmo
• B. Seaward bastions

surrounding Fort St. Elmo

• C. Lower St. Elmo

The Fort St. Elmo project consisted of A and B. C was not included.

The forecourt to Porta del Soccorso

The central parade ground of Fort St. Elmo

The space between a barrack block and a cavalier

The historic significance of the site is immense. Its history is closely linked with that of Valletta and of

• Malta. It features in the

two most significant events in Malta’s history; the Great Siege in 1565 and Siege of Malta from 1940-1943 during World War II. Fort St. Elmo is at the tip of Valletta, strategically located to guard entrance into both the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett harbour. The site (1)

• Exposed to the elements.
• Numerous small buildings with relatively small internal spaces.
• Buildings spread out over a large area, resulting in many open spaces.
• All buildings and structure are in need of restoration, some more than others.

The site (2)

Constraints

• Very large site and hence high cost of restoration
• Substantial internal spaces, but fragmented in many buildings
• Inadvisable to alter historic structure or add new buildings, because of

planning constraints and costs

Opportunities

• Exceptional views of both the Grand

Harbour and Marsamxett Harbours.

• Arguably the most important historic

site in Malta

• Includes narratives of two exceptional

events in Malta’s and Europe’s history

• Within walking distance to Valletta

tourism sites

• Within walking distance to urban

residential areas

• Open spaces with unique heritage

backdrop

• To restore and bring back to life historic buildings and

structures and to do so in a manner which is financially sustainable.

• To convert what was previously a war machine into a machine

for tourism, leisure, education and the appreciation of heritage.

• To enhance Malta’s attractiveness as a tourism destination and

also to reduce seasonality. Project objectives

It was decided to have two primary uses for the site namely;

• The museum would be focused in the

internal spaces of the buildings with different buildings having different themes.

The project

• The ramparts walk would make use of the

external spaces. This would stretch along the entire length of the bastions that surround the fort. All the site to be managed by Heritage Malta.

Other facilities:

• An orientation room
• Church for temporary exhibitions and small

musical performances.

• Chapel for religious services.
• Two catering facilities, with external tables

and chairs.

• Small retail outlets
• Tourist information office.
• Space for occasional open air market
• Public conveniences

Fort St. Elmo project Lessons learnt on developing project concepts for historic sites and buildings

• 1. Have a single agency responsible for project concept development and implementation.
• 2. Set up a project team with the involvement of different stakeholders
• 3. Involve end user in developing the project concept.
• 4. Be clear early on what you want to achieve with the project
• 5. Identify a use for the site that is financially viable i.e. that will generate enough income

to sustain maintenance

• 6. Consider carefully transport issues. How will people get to your site?
• 7. Do not look at the site in isolation. Consider it part of a larger urban area.
• 8. Public participation at the project concept stage is advisable, if anything to develop a

sense of ownership of the community to the project.

• 9. Be wary of prima-donna architects and of narrow corporate interests.

Thank you for your attention

• Dr. John Ebejer

Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture University of Malta

john.ebejer@um.edu.mt