Human Towers – Catalonia, Spain

10/05/2013

Human Towers or castells in Catalan, are (as the name says) human towers that have been built in Catalonia for more than two centuries.  It was initially the final icing of a dancing called ball dels valencians but with the time they acquired more and more importance and finally emancipated from the ball.  Castells are built by colles castelleres all around Catalonia . There are plenty of colles castelleres in Catalonia,with Els castellers de Vilafranca and Colla vella dels xiquets de Valls being the most famous ones. Every two years Tarragona hosts the most important Castells competition which is seen by ten thousands of people in the Tarraco Arena. On Novermber 16, 2010, castells were declared by UNESCO as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Since then, castells have been performed in several places such as New York or recently, London.

– Max, Barcelona

                   

Written by the europhiles Posted in Anywhere, Spain Tagged with barcelona, catalonia, Europe, europhiles, human towers, london, new york, spain, tradition, UNESCO