Lithica: the magical place in Menorca where landscape and work come together
If we closed our eyes ready to disappear and travel to a magical and genuine corner, hidden in a lost and remote place, we would surely think of Tristan da Cunha, one of the most remote islands in the world either. Few of us would think to find such a wonder in a rocky setting located in **the south of Menorca**: Pedreres de S'Hostal , commonly known as lithica (whose name comes from the Greek term lithos which means stone).
Menorca is a combination of blue waters, kilometers of "dry wall", green fields throughout the island, a rocky landscape and white stone villages. And this same calcareous stone is what has been used for years to build many of the houses that stand on the island and that dress and dye it white.
Thanks to its porosity and its variable hardness, the mares (name by which this stone is known in the Balearic Islands) can be easily polished and carved . Once pulled from the quarries, it remains white; over time it takes on a golden hue and situated by the sea turns dark.
An old quarry converted into a cultural and botanical space
But this raw material, like most natural resources, it is finite , Y the quarries have been depleted leaving mysterious landscapes located in the bowels of the Earth. Until in 1994, a group of people living in Menorca constituted the Lithic Cultural Society with the aim of recovering and preventing the disappearance of this wonderful landscape carved into the rock.
Headed by the sculptor and architect Laetitia Sauleau , this association cleaned and rehabilitated the quarry after a long period of abandonment in which nature had re-colonized the place. S'Hostal was then transformed and became a privileged setting for carrying out cultural activities. Laetitia tells Traveler.es how "the crazy of the stones" One day they arrived on the island proposing a project that would dignify the stone and everything that surrounds it. The architect emphasizes that today, years later, this is the project of many people who have supported, collaborated and contributed to making Lithica what it is today.
In addition, this year twice, it commemorates the 25th anniversary of the entity and this one has also been awarded with the prize European Heritage Awards . As a celebration and recognition of the work of the entire team, they have installed a couple of ephemeral works : a first in collaboration with the artist Joseph Guinovart and a second in favor of the conservation of Punta Nati, one of the best known places in Menorca and an essential part of its memory, its heritage and its landscape.
lithica
A SPACE CARVED IN THE LANDSCAPE
It is hard to think that where the earth was once opened with hands and from whose core its blocks were torn out, such a mysterious and inspiring landscape rises today. The trench coats , who carved by hand, were the first to generate a spontaneous work of art, precisely because of that lack of artistic will. Subsequently, interventions on the ground permanently enhanced its morphology, this time yes, with an artistic intention.
Lithica with his work allows us, today, to travel to the subsoil of the earth to observe the hardness of man's work, the beauty of the landscape and the memory of the island in nature form.
This space of architecture in negative, excavated and sunken by the extraction of the marés is today a large garden, result of the interaction of man and nature. A recreational and cultural space saved from disappearance, which has been reborn respecting the quarries, the gardens and the labyrinthine paths.
Litica's garden
Get into the Pedreres de S'Hostal it is to immerse yourself in a scenario of unlikely contrasts and geometries. Immense vertical walls separate the upper area, exposed to a harsh climate with poor vegetation, from the interior area, suitable for cultivation and prepared for it. Both worlds, connected by irregular steps, give way to cubic spaces and natural and artificial gardens . In them we see the inheritance and the action of man on the landscape.
A GREEN HEART
Inside, there is a diverse botanical circuit and a labyrinthine game that includes the medieval garden , where silence and harmony reign, and the Vegetable Maze. Everything, under a structure and geometric order that contributes to the balance of the senses.
Native plants in Lithica
According to Menorcan tradition, the abandoned quarries were used as vegetable gardens . That's why Lithica has created various universes with different species of local flora l: wild olive trees, aromatic plants, shrubs, a lemon plantation or a Mediterranean forest. They even conceived a pond with typical plants of the wetlands of Menorca and a nursery where to produce and rescue native plants.
This place has become a Outdoor museum ideal for enthusiasts of geometry, architecture, photography or landscape. The ideal corner to enjoy observing the particular personality of the vegetation and the sculptures.
That being said, then, we do not need to go that far. Menorca continues to surprise us with its fascinating, abandoned and unknown landscapes. And many times, the most ordinary corners become unique through history and our gaze.
A hidden garden in Lithica