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The Living Stone of Mallorca
LANDSCAPE
LANDSCAPE
LANDSCAPE
LANDSCAPE
LANDSCAPE
LANDSCAPE
Stone taking centre stage across the Mediterranean landscape.
In the stony heart of the Tramuntana mountains, the marges—dry-stone walls that scale the slopes—are one of the greatest symbols of Mallorca's agricultural landscape. These walls, which were built during the Muslim rule, have spent centuries making sure the mountains are able to provide fertile land for olive growing and other Mediterranean trees. With more than 20,000 kilometres of walls built, they bear witness to a long-held relationship between humans and their environment.
Among the steep slopes of the Tramuntana mountains, where the terrain once seemed to forbid agriculture, the genius of Mallorca's country folk has led to the building of marges gradually over time. These dry-stone walls tame the relief and shape an agricultural landscape that has remained strong for centuries. Although traces of their use date back to Muslim rule, the first documents to cite them date from the 13th century, especially in Sóller Valley. Far from being mere aesthetic elements, these stepped walls allow olive, almond, carob and oak trees to grow on steep slopes by retaining moisture, preventing erosion and facilitating the use of water. Their design also allows rainwater to seep into the soil and refill aquifers.
The Tramuntana mountain range has more than 20,000 kilometres of marges, a figure that symbolically rivals the Great Wall of China, and no wonder: stone by stone, the margers (dry-stone wall builders) built an unprecedented agricultural and ecological system, the legacy of which still thrives in each cultivated terrace and in the biodiversity that these spaces harbour. This architect-free architecture is living proof of a culture that turned necessity into art, and limited resources into sustainability.These marjades (stone terraces) grow olive trees that create oils with unique organoleptic profiles, defined by the climate, altitude and care taken during harvesting by hand. This olive oil, often of the Empeltre or Picual variety, is central to local cuisine, either as a garnish for simple dishes or as a base for more complex ones. Next to them grow almond trees, with blossom that welcomes the spring and fruit that's used in sweet recipes and even traditional liqueurs. Cattle take shelter under the shade of carob trees, and this fruit has become an important part of the island's contemporary cuisine, whether in the form of flour, syrup or even as a substitute for cocoa.
The 'marger' profession, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2018, has been revived in recent decades thanks to training initiatives, workshops and the promotion of groups such as the Gremi de Margers de Mallorca (Mallorca Margers Guild). They are the new guardians of knowledge they not only pass on with their hands, but also with a watchful eye on their surroundings. With each restored wall, they also preserve a way of understanding the land, where cultivation is part of the ecosystem and cooking is a direct expression of the worked landscape.These marges therefore represent times gone by and great human effort. They are the silent infrastructure of a culture that understood that living off the land also meant living with it. And in every dish with olive oil, almond or carob that arrives to the table, there's a bit of this edible landscape held in balance by the dry stone.
Alaró (Mallorca)
