The president of the Consell Insular de Menorca, Adolfo Vilafranca, received the Ramon Llull award for Talayotic Menorca yesterday from the president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens. The awards ceremony was held at the Llotja de Palma. The Gold Medal, awarded to Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Greece, and the Ramon Llull awards are the highest recognition given by the autonomous community.
The Balearic Government considers that the inscription of Talayotic Menorca on the UNESCO World Heritage List highlights the rich heritage of the Balearic Islands and is a sign of the commitment of citizens and institutions to its conservation.
The institutional ceremony for the Day of the Balearic Islands, which was attended by almost 700 people, began with a performance by musicians and dance groups representing the four islands. It began with the Es Broll group of dancers from Ibiza; from Formentera, the Es Xacoters and Es Pastorells groups; the Arrels de Sant Joan group from Ciutadella, dancers from Menorca; and the dancers and musicians from the Mallorca School of Music and Dance. The gala also included a musical performance by the singer Júlia Colom, with a rendition of the song Olivera. To conclude, the event ended with a performance by the string quartet of the Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands, which played three pieces by Enrique Pastor.
Her Majesty Queen Sofia received the Gold Medal and the sixteen Ramon Llull laureates were: Enric Benito Oliver, a doctor specialising in palliative care; Beatriz Morales-Nin, a marine ecologist and professor at IMEDEA; José Antonio Fayas Janer, an engineer and expert in water resources; Mater, a social organisation dedicated to the education, training and social and occupational integration of people with disabilities, for its 60 years of work; the Talayotic Menorca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Es Baluard Museum of Contemporary Art, for its 20th anniversary; the Ibizan historian Joan Planells Ripoll; the Xavier Fiol Gallery, for its 35th anniversary; the singer Lorenzo Santamaría, for his 50 years of musical career; the Palma Futsal Balearic Islands team, for its sporting achievements in 2023; the Mallorcan women's football World Cup champions with the Spanish national team Mariona Caldentey and Cata Coll; and the designer Sebastià Pons. Three Ramon Llull prizes were also awarded posthumously: to the businessman Gabriel Sampol, to the teacher and founder of Formentereros Solidarios Teresa Costa, and to the historian María José Massot.