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Gozo Heritage
(closed)
 

Gozo Heritage officially opened in 1988 and was housed in a large house on the Mgarr road in Ghajnsielem. It consisted of a journey through a sequence of areas, each of which presented an aspect of Gozitan history from the past 7,000 years using model reconstructions with atmospheric lighting and sound.

But the museum, situated in Mgarr Road was forced to close its doors on the 30th of May 2009, with one former senior employee citing the inability of independent Gozitan attractions to compete with the low rates that Heritage Malta offers tour operators. Former Gozo Heritage director Brian Mizzi, who conceived the idea of the museum, said that it had been losing money for the past four years and they "stuck it out" for as long as they could, but were just not getting enough business.

The museum never recovered from losing significant business due to the reconstruction of the Mgarr-Ghajnsielem road in 2006 and 2007. The road works caused tour operators to stop visiting the museum, and they did not return when the works were complete. No compensation was offered by the government for the loss of business caused by the road closure.
 

What the Museum Offered

Situated inside a fascinating old building, the Gozo Heritage was a museum that offered a mixture of spectacular historical experience of Gozo together with an appropriately set area where the visitor could buy local crafts or enjoy a cup of coffee. The museum introduced the visitor, in leisurely fashion, to 7,000 years of Gozitan history. Lifesize sculptures set in period environments animated by the latest audio visual electronic techniques gave the visitor a ringside view of the chequered historical saga of Gozo. Starting from the beginning of time the visitor was virtually toured through the island's history up to the present day.

The experience started from early Neolithic times, exposing quite realistic dioramas of megalithic sculptures resembling the Ggantija period temples. The visitor was then be taken into mythology, where an account of the legend of Calypso is narrated in a fascinating manner. Other episodes followed, like the Roman period, the arrival of Christianity, the Arab domination, the Knights of St. John, the dramatic events of 1551, up to British colonisation period. During this journey through time one becomes familiar with the numerous colourful personalities who have contributed to the Island's rich history and folklore.

But seven thousand years of living history have been lost to the public as the Gozo Heritage museum iwas forced to close its doors in May 2009.

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