Things that happen on balconies

What do the three figures in The Balcony, which Manet painted in the mid-19th century and can be seen in the Musée d'Orsay, observe? Perhaps they watch life go by, paraphrasing Fangoria. At SER Catalunya, for many years, they have also observed and told us about life from their particular journalistic balcony. Many towns call a balcony an elevated viewpoint, one of those that delight tourists. The balcony, however, serves not only to look, but also to be seen and, in some cases, also heard. That is to say, it would be a kind of tribune.

There are balconies with a strong symbolic charge, such as that of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, from where the Pope addresses the faithful. Of course, among the most iconic balconies in the world is also that of Buckingham Palace, an essential setting for the staging of the British monarchy for over a century.

The two main balconies in Barcelona are located a few meters apart. One in front of the other. They are, of course, the balcony of the Barcelona City Council and, as the capital of the country, that of the Palau de la Generalitat. The second, mainly, has been the scene of some of the most relevant events in our recent history.

On April 14, 1931, president Francesc Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic from the balcony of the Palau. Hours earlier, Lluís Companys, then a councilor of the Barcelona city council, had gone out onto the balcony opposite to proclaim the Republic, just generally.

After the long interlude of the dictatorship, on October 23, 1977, the balcony of the Palau once again became the scene of a historic day: the return of president Josep Tarradellas. There he proclaimed his famous: "ja soc aquí!" ("I am here now!").

On May 31, 1984, Jordi Pujol also had his "balcony moment." Amidst the Banca Catalana scandal, thousands of people –300,000 according to the organizers and 75,000 according to the Guardia Urbana– accompanied the president in procession from the Parliament to Plaça Sant Jaume to support him. From the balcony of the Palau, Pujol proclaimed: "D'ara endavant, d'ètica i moral en parlarem nosaltres" ("From now on, we will talk about ethics and morals"). Well...

On December 20, 2003, Pasqual Maragall did not want to be outdone and also went out onto the balcony of the Palau to greet his followers and celebrate the end of Pujolism. In his case, he was accompanied by Joan Saura and Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira. They were the embodiment of the tripartite and the Dragon Khan…

On October 27, 2017 –the Parliament had just approved independence–, thousands of people once again filled Sant Jaume square and shouted: "President al balcó!", but president Carles Puigdemont decided not to come out. Neither did his successor, Quim Torra, although perhaps he was not lacking in desire. Torra did not lean out of the balcony, but this marked the end of his mandate: justice disqualified him for not having removed precisely from the Palau balcony a banner that read: "Llibertat presos polítics i exiliats / Free political prisoners and exiles". So much for this review of the historical days starring the Palau balcony (I intentionally avoid, for obvious reasons, the football celebrations it has also hosted).

But let's not get sidetracked. This week, my intention was not to write about the political weight of the Palau balcony, but to write an article to vindicate this architectural element so common in the city's buildings. The balcony is, in a way, the paradise of the humble. A small space, sometimes tiny, that we can fill with plants. We can also install a small table and a couple of stools on it to have breakfast, read for a while under the spring sun or have a glass of wine, by candlelight, with the loved one and, with a little luck, glimpse the stars. Perhaps it sounds a bit cheesy, but the balcony makes me think of that "Hawaii-Bombay / Son dos paraísos / Que a veces yo / Me monto en mi piso" that Mecano sang.

*Coincidentally, while writing this article, I received a video recorded in Plaça Reial, a too common scenario for hooligan gatherings. It shows how one of these characters takes a football, kicks it hard upwards and smashes it against one of the balconies in the square. Seconds later, a lady opens the door of the affected balcony and, visibly annoyed, takes the ball inside. The hooligans call her everything but beautiful.

Things that happen on balconies and, in this last case, things that should never happen.