On the 11th of January 2020, the Consell Insular de Menorca island government, in cooperation with the island’s city halls and other local entities, showed support for the initiative “Historic watchtowers and talayots of the Mediterranean. A hymn to Human Rights” with the lighting of fire-signals at 28 talayots. This action came to fruition thanks to the coordination and collaboration of the Friends of the Museum of Menorca Association.
The Department of Culture has released this summary video of what was a dual-purpose experience. On one hand, it was meant to raise awareness regarding the dramatic situation that many individuals around the Mediterranean are suffering, having no choice but to emigrate for survival. This act also reproduced what may have been the means of communication between Talayotic settlements during prehistoric times, in a period when the circulation of people around different areas of the Mediterranean was quite normal.
This audio-visual piece, produced by the Menorca Film Festival, has been made available through the various institutional networks of Talayotic Menorca and the Menorca Island of Culture agenda, as well as through the channels of communication of the Menorca Film Festival. The video is available in three languages: Catalan, Spanish and English, and the original music is by the Menorcan musician Anna Ferrer.
The Minister of Culture, Education, Youth and Sports of Menorca, Miquel Àngel Maria, would like to express his appreciation to all those associations, entities and volunteers around the island who have taken part in this initiative.
Also significant is the fact that this lighting of fire-signals was carried out simultaneously around other sites in the Mediterranean: Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Chios (Greece) and several locations in Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon.