On November 10th, the Alaior Public Library hosted the “Talayotic Menorca: a cyclopean island odyssey” conference in which the substance of the new candidacy of Talayotic Menorca for World Heritage was revealed. Miquel Àngel Maria Ballester, conseller of Cultural Affairs; Cipriano Marín, the candidacy’s file coordinator; Antoni Nicolau, editor of the management plan; and Joaquim Pons, the candidacy’s technician, were in charge of this lively chat.
Maria was the first speaker to intervene, emphasizing the creation of a narrative that links the monuments of Talayotic Menorca with the landscape that surrounds them: “This is a territory pampered by its population, where we can still perceive parts of the landscape as it was in prehistoric times. This adds a special uniqueness and an enormous value to our candidacy.” Cipriano Marín expressed the same sentiment: “Our story is about an island trapped between the sky and the sea during Prehistory, a territory that coexists harmoniously with these ancient vestiges. Menorca has a living monumental landscape, interconnected with the sky.”
The nine components of Talayotic Menorca
Marín described the new distribution of the candidacy in nine territorial areas or components that include the most outstanding vestiges of the island from the irruption of the Cyclopean constructions (1600 B.C.) until the decline of this culture, coinciding with the beginning of the Romanisation around 123 B.C. The diversity of the components illustrate the different ways in which our ancestors occupied and used the land, how they expressed their social and religious organisation and, consequently, the processes used to mould the landscape and its symbolic spaces.
Creation of the Talayotic Menorca Agency
Next, came Antoni Nicolau, editor of the management plan, who laid out the mechanisms provided in this plan to guarantee the maintenance and improvement of the components, the authenticity and integrity of Talayotic Menorca’s assets and their state of conservation, as well how to strengthen the project’s relationship with the community.
Lastly, Joaquim Pons presented the bases for the creation of the Talayotic Menorca Agency, whose main functions will be: to prepare proposals; promote research, conservation, dissemination, restoration and educating on the values of archaeological heritage; execute the management plan and promote social participation and cooperation. The conseller of Cultural Affairs added that the idea is to formally create this agency in 2021 and have it running by 2022.
If you missed the conference, you can find a complete video here.