Chapel courtyard being converted to restaurant

Part of a chapel complex in Rabat is being converted into a restaurant with the Curia's blessing on the grounds that the revenue from the rent will finance the restoration of this place of worship.
Located in an urban conservation area the development involves the change of use of a courtyard measuring 120 square metres and a number of adjacent rooms, which are part of the Santa Marija ta' Doni Church, also known as Ta' Duna, in St Paul's Street, Rabat.
Submitted in September 2016 by Arthur Vassallo and Can Kurtcu, who is the general manager of Ta' Doni restaurant across the road, the application had been refused by the Planning Authority but the decision was subsequently overturned on appeal.

Sources told The Sunday Times of Malta that the development ruffled some feathers among the faithful who felt that such plan was a worrying precedent and not line with the Church's pastoral mission.
"I cannot understand how the ecclesiastical authorities have accepted to lease a courtyard and adjacent rooms which are part of a place of worship, purely for commercial reasons," they said. Furthermore, concern was also expressed that such two diverse activities might conflict with each...

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