Independence Monument (Floriana)

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In 1989, on the 25th anniversary of Malta’s independence (21 September 1964), the bronze and marble Independence monument by Bonnici was inaugurated at the entrance to Maglio Gardens at Floriana. With a height of 8.5m, it was to be not only the largest creation by Bonnici himself but perhaps the tallest statue-based monument in Malta. It represents an important milestone in Bonnici’s artistic career, not only for the national event it commemorates but for its iconographic merging of the abstract with the figurative as the female figure (an allegory of Malta) strides forward into the unknown as she liberates herself from the shackles of the past (symbolised by the abstracted bands beneath her) whilst tightly holding aloft the national flag in one hand.