The factory Can Guardiola de Algaida (Mallorca) is one of two in Spain that maintains this traditional way of working glass

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Declaration of the Mallorcan technique of glass blowing as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) yesterday inscribed the craft of glass production in Mallorca as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Unesco decided at the eighteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held from Monday until next Saturday in the city of Kasane, in northern Botswana.

Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Finland, France and Hungary presented “Knowledge, craftsmanship and techniques of artisanal glass production” as one of 55 applications for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity that examines the Committee in the African country.

Traditional artisanal glass production involves shaping and decorating hot and cold glass to produce objects. Knowledge and skills are transmitted within families or through apprenticeships.

In Mallorca highlights the blowing, one of the most famous techniques of glass craftsmanship, which is, once the glass has reached its melting point, blowing into it through a long metal tube to make bubbles in it and give it shape. The Can Guardiola factory in Algaida (Mallorca) is one of two in Spain that maintains this traditional way of working glass.

The president of the Government, Marga Prohens stressed that “this declaration is a very important recognition for the legacy of so many artisans of the islands that have made art of this technique, generation after generation, century after century”.

The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity recognizes and promotes the diversity of cultural practices and knowledge carried out by communities.

2,000 years of history

To speak of the history of glass in Mallorca is to go back to the time of the Phoenicians, who settled on the coast in the second century BC, and mounted glass furnaces. With the supremacy of glass art in Venice, design and technique were imported and Mallorcan glass reached its splendour in the 18th century, with exports directed to European palace clients.

Glass blowing is a very ancient craft technique that requires great skill and absolute mastery. The glass is worked at very high temperatures and moulded with a blowtorch, from which almost magical shapes emerge. The mastery and creativity of the craftsman are essential to create these wonderful pieces.

The glass craftsmanship is closely linked to the Gordiola family, transmitter of this craft from generation to generation, with traditional designs.