The flower carpets, about to be crowned

The world of flower carpets is one step away from reaching the summit. Soon, and after years of struggle, the Ministry of Culture will present its candidacy to Unesco for intangible heritage of humanity. In addition, the federation that brings together these artisans has received a community grant from the Creative Europe program to promote a project that aims to extend this art throughout the world through various activities. One of them is the congress that the catifaires will hold in August at a still-to-be-decided location in the Barcelona area.

The good news of the candidacy was announced last Saturday during an event of catifaires held in the chapter house of the Barcelona cathedral, which was too small for the influx of these specialists in the design of flower carpets not only from Catalonia, but also representatives from other European countries such as Italy and Malta attended. It was an event organized by the Federació Catalana de Catifaires and the announcement was made by its president, Vicenta Pallarès. In fact, the news was already an open secret hours before, as the decision of the Spanish Government had already spread like wildfire among those present, although they had to wait for Pallarès to formalize it.

When this activity becomes, probably in 2025, intangible heritage of humanity, flower carpets will cease to be merely an expression associated with popular festivals to officially become an art ---ephemeral, yes--- in capital letters. It will be the culmination of a process of years of demands and awaited recognition. The catifaires chose the chapter house of the cathedral to make such a solemn announcement for historical reasons. This tradition had one of its origins centuries ago in the Barcelona cathedral associated with the Corpus processions.

The fact that it is an ephemeral art does not detract from its merit, quite the opposite. As an example, the magnificent carpet that welcomed the participants of the event in the cloister, in front of the access door to the chapter house. About forty artists participated in its creation for two days. The result, obviously spectacular.

Over the next two years, and within the framework of the European project Flower Carpets Art, the practice of flower carpets will be dressed up with a program of activities that will be the great showcase of this art as an anticipation of the expected UNESCO nomination. The initiative has been promoted by the aforementioned Catalan federation, jointly with the Sicilian association CulturArte de Noto and the Maltese town council of Gharb. The challenge is to internationally expand the catifaire culture, which is estimated to have 100,000 practitioners worldwide. It is about promoting cooperation among them and sharing knowledge.

One of the most important activities will be the world congress of catifaires that is planned to be held in Barcelona or its metropolitan area. This aspect is not yet finalized, but it entails a necessary involvement of the host city council, since, among other issues, it will be necessary to manage the public space where the flower carpets are assembled and guarantee their security so that they are not subject to acts of vandalism. According to Carme Polo, coordinator of the candidacy and of the activities that will take place within the framework of the Flower Carpets Arts project, the congress is expected to include representations as exotic as from Japan and India, and even Tibetan artisans who will perform mandala demonstrations.

In any case, we are talking about a new opportunity for the Barcelona brand to make itself known to the world, in this case thanks to the ephemeral tradition of floral carpets, but which is on the verge of becoming a deserved art heritage of humanity.