National consciousness is an ever-evolving process and archives often do not provide us with treatise about it but rather with touchstones denoting stages of such a process.  Such is the poem by Luca d’Armenia hailing La Valette as the shield against the Turkish invaders.  The interplay between governance and religion is obvious for large spans of Malta’s history.  The identification of symbols that consolidate such process is also traceable in archives, not always with reference and minute number but more in the reading between the lines of manuscripts.  Figures such as St Paul feature prominently in the Maltese process of national consciousness.  The archival holdings also map the development of other symbols such as the coat of arms and the national anthem, and tangible governance instruments such as various constitutional instruments.  The process is also open to political controversy and never ending interpretations of the significance of national feasts.   While archives are not their to silence controversy, they do offer the tools for historical debate to be based on facts rather than myths and fictional imagination