On Thursday (today), the team at Valletta's iconic D'Amato Records woke up to the sight of their shop's sign, synonymous with the store, smashed and severely damaged.

Sharing the news on Facebook, the records store noted that a crane working in the opposite building in the same street smashed the sign the night before.

“This construction madness is ruining our country, but who cares? No respect,” D’Amato remarked.

The sign has been in place since right after World War Two, and has become a unique gem in the capital city.

The HMV sign features a well-known logo across the world, with a dog staring at a gramophone.

The dog, named Nipper, belonged to Mark Barraud and after his passing, his brother Francis inherited all of his belongings including a gramophone, recordings of Mark’s voice and Nipper.

Nipper was fascinated by the records played on the gramophone, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. With this scene in mind, three years after his brother’s death, Mark painted the sight calling it “His Master’s Voice.”

To this day, many tourists that visit Valletta regularly photograph the sign.

Many people took to the comments section to express their anger at the sign being damaged, remaining hopeful that it can be repaired.

An upset commenter highlighted “the disgrace” and noted that the sign had withstood wars for decades “only to be killed by incompetent drivers.”

This is not the first time in recent weeks that a special memento in Valletta has been lost after being hit by external workers.

Just last week a telephone box that goes back to the British era was accidentally toppled over and broken by a delivery truck, as the driver was reversing. Now, the phone box will be re-assembled and restored.