Varador 2000 presents at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona the meeting of historic and centenary ships Maresmar
Maresmar aims to promote the economy and tourism of the Maresme region, disseminate maritime culture and heritage, and promote maritime-related trades.
The Maresmar maritime festival – Trobada de Centenaris 2018 has been presented in Barcelona . It will take place in Arenys de Mar and the waters of the Maresme between June 8 and 10. Maresmar is a gathering of historic and century-old vessels organized by the company Varador 2000. Around twenty participating vessels will be headed by the Santa Eulàlia – flagship of the Barcelona Maritime Museum – and the Sirius, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary and is still sailing this year. Other historic vessels will also participate, such as the San Ramon, the Far Barcelona, the Bon Temps, and La Courtisane, among many others.
The event is supported by the Barcelona Maritime Museum, the Faculty of Nautical Studies, the Ports of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Costa del Maresme Tourism Promotion Consortium, the Maresme Regional Council, several local councils in the region, led by Arenys de Mar, and other institutions, organizations, and associations, as well as several private sponsors. The presentation took place at the Barcelona Maritime Museum and was attended by its general director, Roger Marcet; the dean of the Faculty of Nautical Studies, Agustí Martín; and Xiqui Mas, general director of Varador 2000, the company organizing the event.
As Xiqui Mas explained during the presentation, “Maresmar pursues a triple objective: to promote the economy and tourism of the Maresme and its municipalities, to disseminate maritime culture and heritage, and to promote trades related to the sea .” According to Mas, “the most important objective of the event is to turn it into a first-rate tourist attraction .” He added that Maresmar also “must be a driving force, an event serving the economic and tourist development of the Maresme and its municipalities .” The head of Maresmar added that “the closest example we have to visualize the economic expectations that an event of this type can generate in our territory is the Escale a Sète, which began its journey in this Occitan city in 2010 with great modesty and today attracts thousands of visitors, many of them Catalan . “
Mas has indicated that the Maresme is currently one of the main driving forces behind the dissemination of the country’s maritime heritage and culture, so “we believed it would be good to delve deeper into this area and help disseminate it and bring it closer to the public, so that they can come to feel a very recent past that we still preserve as their own . “
In addition to promoting maritime culture and heritage, the Maresmar also aims to promote maritime-related trades, given that the Maresme “brings together an important centuries-old tradition focused on the training of navigators (its pilot schools were famous) and the construction of vessels, many of which were used for trade with America and to expand the productive and industrial fabric of Catalonia ,” Mas indicated.
Historic ships, nautical tours, exhibitions, conferences…
The Maresmar – Meeting of Centenaries 2018 proposes, as its name suggests, a gathering of centuries-old and historic vessels in the Maresme region during the second weekend of June 2018. Visitors will be able to view and visit the vessels, as well as the areas designated for the various collaborating entities, industrial entities, and a forum space. The program of activities also includes a Cruise along the Maresme Coast, in which the entire historic fleet and any popular fleet (individuals and nautical clubs) will participate. The cruise will depart from the Mataró Marina Barcelona nautical base, travel along the coast, and end at the port of Arenys de Mar. A visual spectacle to showcase the region’s maritime and tourism resources.
Many parallel activities will also be held in the port of Arenys de Mar during Maresmar : Photographic exhibitions of historic ships and maritime activities (on some ships and in the forum area), conferences, roundtable discussions, talks, and children’s activities (knot-tying competitions, drawing, etc.) are planned. There will also be tents for maritime organizations and associations, as well as for the event’s collaborating institutions and companies. On June 10, a special tribute will be paid to the centennial schooner Santa Eulàlia with a series of official events presided over by the president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Mercè Conesa.
Also speaking at the Maresmar presentation were Roger Marcet, director general of the Barcelona Maritime Museum, and Agustí Martín, dean of the Barcelona Faculty of Nautical Studies. Marcet emphasized the importance of these reunions of historic ships, which have a special impact on preserving the historical memory of our maritime heritage, and recalled the participation of the Maritime Museum and its historic fleet in the event.
For his part, Agustí Martín presented a small preview of the lecture he will give at the Maresmar Conference on the golden age of shipbuilding in the Maresme region. The Dean of the Faculty of Nautical Studies explained the important centuries-old tradition of shipbuilding, many of which were used for trade with America and to expand the productive and industrial fabric of Catalonia. These vessels were built right on the beach, in shipyards scattered throughout the region that would be unimaginable today. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Maresme shipwrights completed a large number of schooners, frigates, and brigantines that sailed the seas around the world. The Maresmar Conference will pay them a well-deserved tribute.
