The Santa Teca festival has brought life back to the monastery castle of Escornalbou. The musical, poetic, gastronomic and cultural event has returned this weekend to the peculiar stately mansion of the beginning of the 20th century that the diplomat, Egyptologist and philanthropist Eduard Toda ordered to build preserving two medieval buildings: the monastery of Sant Miquel (from the year 1153) and a castle, in turn, built on the remains of a Roman fortress. The magic of this place, a lookout over the Baix Camp, has regained some of its splendor after six years of works and an injection of 5.7 million euros. Throughout August, visits will be free.
The works to improve the monument (also financed with the European Feder funds and the 1.5% cultural grant from the Ministry of Transport) are part of the "Escornalbou renaissance" initiative, which began six years ago to promote the heritage and natural resource , owned by the Provincial Council of Tarragona and the Generalitat de Catalunya, and turn it into a space for cultural projection and dynamism.
The Santa Teca Market, which has been held in this space since the summer of 2015, closed a hiatus of absence yesterday forced precisely by the restoration works and the pandemic. This weekend, finally, the spirit of Santa Teca was able to reconquer the space. The activities began on Saturday at noon with a tasting of vermouths and a dozen artistic and musical proposals, including the presentation of the project Memoria de les padrines and les padrins de l’Argentera to preserve the oral heritage; The return of Dionís and the spirituality of wine, in which Rafael López-Monné combines photography and historical dissemination, or Theory of architecture by Jordi Abelló.
There was time for poetry and conversation, Gustavo Duch and Daniel Giraldo addressed transhumanity and the importance of the figure of the shepherd and there was also one of the classics of Santa Teca, the Toast in the Sun or the narratives (yesterday ) by Carles Alcoi. The church, the patio and the c, now completely passable, were some of the stages of the festival, in which the gastronomy, and especially the wineries (such as Bárbara Forés, Solà d'Ares, Comalats, Mas del Botó, 9 , Enovitis, Sanromà, Un Sol Cel or Ficaria), play an essential role. In fact, the manifesto of the contest is none other than that of the defense of the consumption of local, seasonal, ecological products "and without any kind of process or industrial manipulation on a large scale".
The festival ended last night, but the monument can be visited for free throughout August. The restoration works have focused on the church (on the roof and on the consolidation and restoration of the walls, almost stone by stone), on the towers and on the entire surrounding area, with archaeological excavations included. The last phase of the monument's recovery, the most complex on a conceptual scale, is now missing, which is the new museographic project.
