Interview: Malta to enhance cooperation with China, says Heritage Malta chair

Mario Cutajar, chairman of Heritage Malta, speaks during an interview in Kalkara, Malta, on Sept. 11, 2023. The rich cultures of China and Malta are under the spotlight at Heritage Malta, the country's national agency for museums, conservation and cultural heritage, its chairman Mario Cutajar said ahead of his visit to China. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)

VALLETTA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The rich cultures of China and Malta are under the spotlight at Heritage Malta, the country's national agency for museums, conservation and cultural heritage, its chairman Mario Cutajar said ahead of his visit to China.

As the agency is seeking to boost cooperation in the preservation of artifacts and in making them accessible to more people, Cutajar explained how Heritage Malta aims to cooperate with China, citing the upcoming exhibition of Chinese porcelain in Malta as an example.

Cutajar said that the main objective of his visit next week will be to hold meetings to bring more exhibitions to Malta to showcase China's rich culture.

"(The visit) has the objective of understanding each other through culture, mainly by holding meetings to try and get exhibitions to Malta, so that we can explore more the rich Chinese culture and even perhaps exhibitions from Malta to China," he told Xinhua in an interview before his departure.

This would be his second visit to China. The first took place in 2007 after the conclusion of the exhibition of the famous Terracotta Warriors in Malta, which was "a huge success." He took the Terracotta Warriors back to Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, through Beijing.

"I love China. It's a beautiful country," he said, adding that "Our culture is completely different and that is why more understanding between us both will prove fruitful for sure."

On the upcoming exhibition of Chinese porcelain, Cutajar said that although Malta had its own porcelain culture, China's is "world-renowned" and the exhibition would teach visitors about the methods used and the paintings on them, giving them "a better understanding of the level of culture and the timelines of both cultures."

He said the exhibition would involve a lot of behind-the-scenes logistics, including bringing the artifacts to Malta, so he does not expect it to happen before two years' time.

Cutajar explained how Heritage Malta has established a very strong partnership with the China Cultural Center in Malta. The agency will be holding its first Malta Biennale next year and China will be taking part in that event, he said.

He also spoke about the importance of exchanges to explore modern museology and the conservation of heritage. "Even though we are a very small country, we still can provide expertise from our experience," he said.

"The preservation of heritage is so important that it needs cooperation between countries to further preserve it, to save it for future generations," he added.