Ciutat Cuidadora

Around 70% of our planet's surface is covered by seas and oceans. Often feared and respected in the past, the sea is also a source of nourishment, a pathway to trade routes, a means of expansion and an inspiration for knowledge. 

This lecture series will examine different aspects of the sea from a multifaceted perspective to help us understand its relevance in many of the most important aspects of humanity.

Series coordinated by Jordi Canal-Soler

Activity as part of the Cultural Regatta to celebrate the America's Cup 2024.

Polynesians, the explorers of the Pacific

Tuesday 4 June at 6:30 pm at the Poblenou - Manuel Arranz Library. With Jordi Canal-Soler, travel writer and photographer.

Taking the Easter Islands (Rapa Nui), New Zealand (Aotearoa) and Hawaii as the vertexes of a triangle, everything inside this huge area in the Pacific Ocean has the same culture: Polynesian. This talk will talk about islands with such exotic names as Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands and the three at the tips of the triangle, introducing the history, language, food and customs of the Polynesian people, the greatest seafarers of all times.

War secrets buried at sea

Tuesday 5 June at 6:30 pm at the Poblenou - Manuel Arranz Library. With Pere S. de Argila, historian specialised in aeronautics. 

In 1994, amateur divers found the remains of a Second World War airplane off the coast of Mataró, thus starting the discovery of a history of espionage, which had been concealed for 50 years, about a maritime route for shipments of tungsten, a mineral that was highly prized by the Nazis, a shipment of which left the port of Barcelona in 1944, along with the Allied attempts to stop it with airplanes and submarines. We’ll learn about the secrets buried on the bottom of the sea for 80 years, the background of the entire story and the cost of those war actions that took place off the Catalan coast in terms of human lives.

The past beneath the waves: Underwater archaeology

Monday 10 June at 6:30 pm at the Camp de l’Arpa-Caterina Albert Library. With Carles Aguilar, underwater archaeologist. 

Over time, the sea has been the setting of battles, trade contacts and adventures. Some of these events have been trapped in the depths for centuries or even millennia in the guise of archaeological remains. But today, thanks to advances in the technology and science of underwater archaeology, we can find and study these testimonies of the past. This lecture will explain the evolution of underwater archaeology techniques and show some of the most iconic shipwrecks and underwater cities from the ancient world.

Demystifying the Caribbean Sea

Tuesday 11 June at 6:30 pm at the Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta - Carmen Laforet Library. With Agustí Chaler, traveller and architect specialising in heritage.

The Caribbean is home to 700 islands making up 26 countries and territories, all tropical islands with liquid frontiers. Agustí Chaler has travelled to a good number of them, and returns to demystify the Caribbean. He will be speaking about turquoise waters and white sand stretching to the horizon, with thousands of immensely tall palm trees swaying in the wind, and also about the mysteries hidden by coral reefs, the limitless hours of sailing, its people, with profound gazes, a unique cuisine based on oriental spices, reggae and calypso music (which are a way of life)... 

Between the land and the sea: The Ebro delta

Thursday 13 June at 6:30 pm at the

Jaume Fuster Library. With Gabi Martínez, writer.

Much is said about the Ebro Delta, but what do we know of the people who live there? And of the tensions and alliances that arise around the rice, the crabs, the flamingos or the people who dance jotas or sardanas at the end of one of the most intensively exploited estuaries in the world? How is the environment affected by the lack of sediment that has led to the sea swallowing up the coast at a rate of ten metres per year? Writer Gabi Martínez spent a year in the last house on the island of Buda, the first in the delta to be flooded with the upcoming storms, and talks to us about life on the edge there.

Descent to the Mariana Trench

Monday, 17 June at 6:30 pm at the Sagrada Família - Josep M. Ainaud de Lasarte Library. With Héctor Salvador, aeronautical engineer and explorer.

The deep ocean has remained unexplored for most of human history due to the vast challenges people face trying to reach such a difficult environment. In this talk, the engineer Héctor Salvador, who has gone on more than 1,800 dives in 20 different submersibles and who in 2021 became the first Spaniard to go down to the Mariana Trench (at a depth of 10,706 metres) in a vehicle that was built with significant input from Catalan industry, tells the story of this manned deep-sea expedition and the adventure surrounding the design, construction and operation of the first submersible certified to access any part of any ocean.

Darwin and the Beagle voyage, evolution's journey around the world

Tuesday 19 June at 6:30 pm at the Fort Pienc - Ana María Moix Library. With Jordi Serrallonga, archaeologist, naturalist and explorer

Charles R. Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle is well known as a legendary voyage that would change our understanding of life. But what do we know of the captain of the ship, Robert Fitzroy? What was the relationship like between the two men? Did he play a key role in the formulation of Darwin's ideas about evolution? With the film Master and Commander as the backdrop, we will reconstruct the period before, during and after the voyage. And this is because naturalist Stephen Maturin and captain Jack Aubrey –characters created by writer Patrick O’Brien– are good imaginary substitutes for the real Darwin and Fitzroy.

The ancient Egyptians and the sea

Tuesday 26 June at 6:30 pm at the Gòtic – Andreu Nin Library. With Irene Cordón i Solà-Sagalés, PhD in Ancient History.   

In Hatshepsut's temple in Deir el-Bahari, there are reliefs that illustrate one of humanity's first documented voyages: the Egyptians’ journey to the Land of Punt, led by Queen Hatshepsut in the fifteenth century BC. In this talk, we’ll examine the Ancient Egyptians’ relationship with the sea, including not only their naval exploration and trade with the Land of Punt, but also the literary journey of Amun of Thebes to the island of Cyprus, which offers fascinating insights into the relations between Egypt and other maritime regions.

UNESCO and maritime heritage: The sea of traditions and beliefs

Tuesday 27 June at 6:30 pm at the Nou Barris - Aurora Díaz Plaja Library. With Victòria Medina, archaeologist and scientific and cultural educator.

Throughout history, the sea has played a significant role in the culture and traditions of numerous human societies. From the art of navigation to naval constructions to polyphonic songs, seafaring legends or religious and ceremonial practices, there are many traditions and beliefs that still today show the deep connection between coastal towns and the sea. In this talk, we’ll be looking at a broad array of maritime culture that is recognised by UNESCO as Human Heritage. Each of these cultural expressions reflects the importance of the sea as a source of life, support, inspiration and spirituality.

The Arabs and the sea, behind the legend of Sinbad

Monday 1 July at 6:30 pm at the Ignasi Iglésias - Can Fabra Library. With Jordi Esteva, writer, photographer and film maker.

For centuries, Arab traders sailed across the Indian Ocean in great merchant ships driven by monsoon winds. They would take salted fish, leather, wool, rugs, dried limes and dates from Arabia, and once they reached the coasts of China and India they would exchange them for porcelain, silk and spices. When the winds changed direction months later, they would sail to East Africa, from the Horn of Africa to present-day Mozambique, where they would take on wild animal skins, precious wood or slaves. Writer and photographer Jordi Esteva has travelled to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean numerous times in search of the memory of these Arab sailors following the legend of Sinbad. 

Journeys around the world in a kayak 

Thursday 4 July at 6:30 pm at the Guinardó - Mercè Rodoreda Library. With Rai Puig, host and scriptwriter for the TV programme ‘Gent de mar’.

The adventurer Rai Puig has been on various expeditions in a sea kayak through almost all the oceans on the planet. From Baja California to Wales, New Zealand, Patagonia, Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Papua New Guinea and, closer to home, Menorca and the Costa Brava, his kayak voyages have enabled him to have extreme experiences in the wildest natural environments. In this talk, we’ll be following the route of Rai’s kayak to discover a different way of travelling, always with the water and the sea as the backdrop.