Dry Stone: Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Tramuntana mountain range was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2010. What may not be well understood are the criteria by which this declaration was made. It was not on account of the mountains being mountains. How many mountain ranges can there be across the globe? And how many would boast higher mountains than the Tramuntana can? No, the mountains in themselves, while obviously crucial, were not the principal reason.

Unesco identified the "historical, cultural and socioeconomic processes that have taken place". The mountains are evidence of cultural intermingling in that they have drawn on the physical efforts of the different cultures which have occupied them, most obviously the Muslims and the Christians of post-1229 invasion. What was initiated centuries ago is what there now is: a landscape that was shaped by the labours and ingenuity of its inhabitants. It is one characterised by water systems (hundreds of years before the massive reservoirs were created in the 1970s), by the terracing and by the dry-stone work which itself was used to make the terraces but also to form the means of communication that criss-cross the mountains - the pathways or rudimentary roads. And amidst these developments was the cultivation, such as the olive groves and orange trees.

It is, therefore, the cultural landscape that Unesco honours, one that sets the Tramuntana apart. But not wholly apart. The key element of dry stone, and dry stone in mountainous regions, is not unique to Mallorca. There are similar examples, for instance in Cyprus, and they have a common link - that of a Mediterranean culture combined with that of the Iberian peninsula and out into the Atlantic and the Canary Islands: the dry-stone culture.

What one sees in the Tramuntana is the physical presence of this remarkable culture, such as the path of the barranc (ravine) de Biniaraix in the south of Soller: the very name Biniaraix, a linguistic amalgam of the human cultures that carved the Tramuntana landscape - Arabic and Catalan. And now, in addition to this physical cultural heritage, there is an initiative to add the abstract, the non-physical.

In Mallorca, there is one and only one example of Unesco intangible cultural heritage. It can be seen in the sense that there are singers, but it is non-physical because it is a song, or a chant if one prefers. This is the chant of the Sibil-la, performed on Christmas Eve in churches, monasteries (and the Cathedral) across Mallorca: the most spiritual of Tramuntana sites, Lluc Monastery, is where the intangible meets the tangible in celebrating these different types of culture.

The Balearic regional government's culture ministry and the islands' councils are joining force in participating in an international campaign which is aimed at having "pedra en sec" - dry stone - be declared Unesco intangible cultural heritage. In fact, the first impulse behind this initiative came from the east of the Mediterranean: Cyprus and Greece. Now, and in addition to the Balearics, there is interest from regions in Spain as far apart as Galicia in the north-west to Catalonia in the east and Andalusia in the south, as well as in the Canaries.

But, one might ask, how can this be intangible culture? Dry stone can be seen, touched, walked upon, worked. It is tangible. Which of course is true, but the international candidacy of dry stone and its Mediterranean/Iberian culture focuses on what went into dry stone: the knowledge and skills of its working and the ways in which these were and have been passed down through the centuries. It is a culture of life, of living, of economy and of landscaping, one that unifies different cultures.

Unesco has to decide. Proposals can be made by governments and administrations for its committees to ponder. In the case of dry stone, the candidacy will concentrate on the technique of this ancient craft: the shared human ability that created the landscapes and transformed the physical environment, as happened in the Tramuntana.

All the regions (and countries) involved in this initiative will meet in September and finalise the necessary documentation to meet Unesco guidelines. If all goes to plan, then the candidacy will be submitted to Unesco by March of next year, and the result of the evaluation of the proposals will be known in 2018.

If a declaration is made, it wouldn't of course be Mallorca's alone, unlike the Sibil-la, but it would be great recognition nonetheless for the human ingenuity which left the legacy that it has for us to all enjoy.

Not Dry: Mallorca's stone

Mallorca has a fair for just about everything. While many of the fairs are designed to excite taste buds or a desire to buy something to mess around on water with, some fairs can sound altogether less exciting or enticing. A celebration of stone might well be thought to fall into this category. But think again. Mallorca wouldn't be what Mallorca is without stone. It's reasonable to say that most places wouldn't be, but Mallorca is defined by its stone, by its different varieties that have adorned its architecture, by the white stone, the yellow stone, by the stone of pre-history, by the stone which shapes and marks out its landscape. Mallorca is stone as much as it is sea and sand.

In Binissalem they honour stone; the eleventh stone fair is taking place this weekend. It is an occasion for the not untypical accompaniments to a Mallorcan fair - giants, music of different types, demons banging drums, dancers dancing the ball de bot, and food (rabbit and noodles in Binissalem's case) - but it would not be the occasion it is without something on which it can be built. Stone.

Binissalem has its own stone variety. What is quarried there, technically one understands, is a marble. Its colour varies from dark blue to light beige, and a principal use of this local quartz-veined stone is for flooring. The stone at the fair will not be Binissalem's alone and nor will the stone products be solely those for building purposes. There is a highly innovative stone craft movement in Mallorca, one pursued by younger artisans, that has given rise to exceptional new designs. Some of these were exhibited at the Pollensa Fair last November, and Binissalem will also be showing them off.

But there is a much more traditional stone industry in Mallorca, evidence of which can be seen on its landscape. It can be walked on, walked over or even walked through, if you are an animal of the right proportions. It is the dry stone of Mallorca.

Dry stone working is a very old craft on the island. A class of worker known as the "marger" is said to have been noted among occupations at the time of King Jaume's conquest in the thirteenth century. More certainly, it was documented two centuries later. The marger is a dry stone worker. The occupation still exists of course, but it had been under threat. In the 1980s, because of a lack of demand and because of an aging profile of dry stone worker, it was in danger of disappearing. So, in 1986 the Sóller School of Margers was formed. Its primary objective was instruction to help with the restoration of dry stone walks. The Council of Mallorca developed on the work in the Sóller and has since instituted training programmes, especially aimed at younger people. There may not be a huge demand for original dry stone working, but there is significant demand for restoration work. The promotion of dry stone walks has helped to bring about the demand. It has been a good example of tourism, heritage and employment combining for their mutual benefit.

Though there is a question mark as to when the marger occupation was first noted, there is clear evidence that it was an occupation in the times immediately after the conquest, and that is the dry stone paths, which are reckoned to date from the thirteenth century. From the following century, there is also evidence of dry stone shelters having been built. These were created for a variety of purposes - as refuges, for storage, for animals and for housing workers such as charcoal burners, seaweed collectors and even snow gatherers, who also had the use of dry stone snow houses, those in which ice was stored and that was to be used in the making of early ice-cream with almonds.

But it is the dry stone walls which are probably the most visible examples of this old craft. They came in different forms rather depending on why they were built, for example for land or crop demarcation or for enclosing livestock. The latter - sheep, pigs, goats and game - were considered in their construction; hence why there are gaps to allow them through. There are also smaller gaps so that water can pass through them.

Stone, as the theme for a fair, may seem a little dry, as it were, but it most certainly isn't. It is bound up with Mallorca's history and with its present and future. In its different types and with its different purposes, it is hugely important. And it is on show in Binissalem.