Some challenges facing industrial heritage in Malta

Abstract

Malta has a rich industrial heritage. The Dockyard Boiler Shop is full of artefacts of industrial heritage, from buses to machinery salvaged from the Dockyard. There are then the engines and steam plant at Kordin, engines in water pumping stations, the beautifully preserved 1907 machine-shop at the Conservatorio Vincenzo Bugeja, the underground mills, and lots more, besides private collections, some of which are quite interesting and extensive. One problem is how to conserve all this material, and another problem is deciding what to keep. One positive aspect that has helped safeguard some industrial heritage items is that it sometimes costs more money to scrap them than to leave them where they are.