Tarragona, City of Human Towers
Equilibrium between smartness and emotion
The seconds lasted forever, he was at his limit. He couldn’t see anything, surrounded by dozens of tense bodies, worrying and sweating like him. The sound of flageolets and the shouts from the team leader, he knew he had to hold on. Heat, a lot of heat. That corpulent body, with a few winter layers on top, bravely endured. It was his brain that kept him going. Sure. On top of his shoulders the nine floor tower was being built. He didn’t want to even think about the weight on top of him. If it hadn’t been for the two girls acting like crutches under his arms he would have folded like crumpled paper...
The castles —the human tower constructions— originated in Tarragona and in Penedès and their origin comes from Valencian dances. Tarragona has four groups and the city lives and breathes the tower building spirit and ambience like never before. To build towers everyone is needed and in the right place, from the oldest to the youngest. If one is missing, it doesn’t get built, without bravery, neither.
HUMAN TOWER EXHIBITIONS (28 June-6 September 2023)
You can see human towers being built on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m.(except 16 August) in front of the Tarragona cathedral.
DATE |
PLACE |
COLLA CASTELLERA (HUMAN TOWER GROUP) |
28/6 |
pla de la Seu | |
5/7 | pla de la Seu | |
12/7 | plaça Santiago Rusiñol (plaça de les Cols) | |
19/7 | pla de la Seu | |
26/7 | pla de la Seu | |
2/8 | pla de la Seu | |
9/8 | pla de la Seu | |
23/8 | pla de la Seu | |
30/8 | pla de la Seu | |
6/9 | plaça Santiago Rusiñol (plaça de les Cols) |
HUMAN TOWER EVENTS (24 June-24 September 2023)
Santa Tecla, Sant Magí, Sant Joan… The calendar is filled with human tower events featuring the city’s four colles (Xiquets de Tarragona, Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona, Xiquets del Serrallo and Castellers de Sant Pere i Sant Pau), with some of the best teams from the rest of the country also invited.
"Tarragona, City of Human Towers": download as a pdf