A critique of the monitoring methodology at Hagar Qim, Malta

Abstract

Following a brief insight into the development of documentation and preservation of heritage locally, vis-a-vis the Venice Charter as a development of the Athens Charter thirty years earlier, this research looks into the development of monitoring and some of the latest monitoring techniques, well defining the main objectives of monitoring to date. The series of interventions and recorded environmental data at Hagar Qim are then studied and tabulated in order to understand any trends or patterns once again highlighting the importance and necessity of understanding any possible trend in the deterioration of the fabric in order to help predict and understand firstly, the worst case scenarios and, secondly, the expected deterioration at Hagar Qim. The monitoring parameters looked into in more detail are the parameters of surface morphology, crack propagation and environmental monitoring. The prediction of deterioration with time was already an issue raised in a paper in 2008, using n type of stone that is similar in properties with the local stone. This paper is studied further in order to help draw out a representation of a hypothetical relationship between monitored parameters and recorded deterioration forms.