Within the framework of the ‘Erasmus+’ programme, the Department of the Environment has organised training sessions of local experts to explain to the community partners the learning methods of the margers
The Consell de Mallorca, through the Department of the Environment, Rural Environment and Sports, is leading the European dry stone meeting that is being held from today until next Saturday, 5 April, on the island, in which three partners from the Mediterranean area are taking part: France, Greece and Croatia.
The initiative is part of the project ‘Le Carrefour européen du Savoir-faire des Pays de Pierre Sèche’, co-financed by the EU under the ‘Erasmus+’ programme. The aim of the project is to preserve and promote the use of the dry-stone building technique, recognised by Unesco as intangible heritage since 2018, as well as to develop new skills and innovative learning methods.
TDB keeps you informed. Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
The Consell de Mallorca hosts a European training meeting to promote the use of the dry stone technique
The participation of the Department of the Environment in this programme will serve to improve training activities related to the dry-stone technique aimed at adults.
The meeting kicked off this Thursday with a welcoming ceremony by the island’s director of the Environment, Luis Rubí, at the headquarters of his department, who stressed “the importance of this craft in Mallorca, as dry-stone constructions are of great heritage and cultural value to the island and form part of the characteristic landscape of the Tramuntana mountain range. These walls and buildings represent the rural and agricultural Mallorcan life of the past”.
‘That is why we are promoting basic training programmes aimed at different areas of the population, to contribute to the use of good construction practices, so that there is continuity and we can maintain this cultural heritage that is so deeply rooted in Mallorca,’ explained the island’s director of the Environment in his welcoming speech.
Workshop and training seminar with the participation of local experts
The project partners travelled this Thursday to the Raixa public estate, where a workshop was held on the reconstruction of a bancal wall (marge), with a practical session given by trainers and margers from the Consell de Mallorca. In this way, the European participants could learn in situ how to lay stones and other cultural and environmental aspects related to dry-stone construction in Mallorca.
The European project continues this Friday with activities programmed by the Dry Stone Unit of the Consell de Mallorca. A field visit to the public estate of So n’Amer is scheduled to illustrate aspects of the dry-stone construction technique, and a room session in Raixa, to disseminate the project, the training proposal generated by the project and provide an opportunity to open a debate between local participants and those from other European regions.
The meeting will culminate on Saturday, when the European participants will share a session of the introductory course in the construction of marges, which 15 local apprentices have been studying in Raixa since 21 March.