The Nola Mosaic
Currently Nolla has fallen into oblivion . Originally from the Valencian Community, it is unknown not only by young Valencians, but by the majority of Spaniards if we move away from the fields of design art.
But, how is it possible that what is considered to be the first high-performance ceramic in all of Spain and which was so successful for almost more than half a century, is now just a remnant of modernist times?
To understand it and highlight its value past, present and future it is necessary to go to its origin, enter fully into its fabulous qualities and the most important- restore the notoriety of yesteryear and give a voice to those who fight daily to recover this wonderful Valencian heritage with the intention that it does not fall into permanent oblivion.
THE ORIGIN OF NOLLA CERAMICS
was the businessman Miguel Nolla Bruguet (native of Reus ) who in 1860 Using a new production technology from England, he introduced these mosaics in Spain and distributed them all over the world from his factory in Meliana , in the middle of the orchard of the city of Valencia.
Mosaic Nolla, a Valencian heritage tradition that should not be forgotten
"The nolla pottery it's a stoneware obtained by pressing pulverized clay, and high temperature firing (over 1,200ºC) . This technique allows to produce small colored tiles , generally about 4cm on each side, with which you can compose as many drawings as your imagination allows, whether they are geometric or figurative . The result of its laborious process is a ceramic of great beauty and resistance”, he tells Traveler.es Xavier Laumain, Founding Architect of the ARAE Heritage and Restoration studio and president of the Center for Research and Dissemination of Nolla Ceramics.
The decade of splendor of this pavement was from the end of the 19th century to 1940 , in full modernism and there are many houses, palaces, farmhouses or renowned buildings, which have Nolla on their floors, ceilings or walls.
Starting in the second half of the 19th century, the arrival of other cheaper materials -although less resistant- such as hydraulic tiles or other currents of decoration, relegated the Nolla pottery to the present.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOLLA MOSAIC AND HYDRAULIC MOSAIC
The Nolla mosaic and the hydraulic mosaic are totally different products, although at first glance they can lead to confusion. From the ARAE Heritage and Restoration studio they clarify that: “The first is stoneware, while the second is colored cement. Nolla pottery results from a process involving high-temperature firing, which allows its vitrification and gives it great resistance”.
Nolla Mosaic
“On the contrary, the hydraulic is a piece made up of a small layer of colored cement, a body also of cement, all of it pressed and dried in the air. The result is a tile with less resistance and much more delicate. ”, they continue.
THE SET-UP OF THE PALAUET DE NOLLA IN MELIANA, VALENCIA
If we want to resort to the greatest exemplification or trace of this Valencian modernist cultural heritage, we will only have to travel about 20 minutes from the center of Valencia to reach the origin of everything, the Palauet de Nolla (Camí Barranquet, 57, Meliana, Valencia ).
as they say Josep Riera Vicent (Mayor of Meliana) and Cristina Alonso Burgaz (Municipal Architect of the Meliana City Council) According to Traveler.es, the glorious era of the Palauet was in 1860 and 1920 when all the land was owned by Nolla and this enclave was the family's showroom and summer home, located next to the factory that daily produced these mosaics.
Palace of Nolla
In later years the palauet -also know as Villa Yvonne - It went through several owners until it reached a situation of abandonment that was quite worrying. Luckily in 1987 it was donated to the City Council and in 2010 a whole rehabilitation project was started that is still underway today and thanks to it it has been possible that last July of this 2020 this place open its doors to the public despite all the work that still remains to be done.
Those in charge of this whole process have been the studio ARAE Heritage and Restoration - with the founders Xavier Laumain and Angela López at the head - which, together with the action of the Meliana City Council They fight every day to return to this town the value and brilliance of the beginning of the last century.
“More than ten years ago we founded this studio with the desire to create a new way of working, based on an interdisciplinary team. We contemplate the conservation of heritage from a more global perception, beyond simple intervention. Restoring is necessary, but valuing heritage so that citizens value and respect it is just as necessary ”, sentence Xavier Laumin.
Without a doubt, the rehabilitation of the Palauet has been his most outstanding work to date: “It has been, and continues to be, a permanent struggle to return it to its original splendor. The actions carried out in the first years on the Palauet have focused on avoiding its ruin, which was imminent . After some difficult beginnings, in 2019 we began the last phase of consolidation that ended just as the confinement began. Now the Palauet is out of danger, shows off its first interior restorations, and has begun to host the public and cultural events ”, he comments.
The Palauet is now presented as a place where events and culture come together around the mosaics of Nolla
The ultimate goal of this Valencian asset? It is intended to achieve the complete recovery of the Palauet, with the intention of giving it a cultural use, also hosting both public and private events. “ El Palauet will once again be, in fine, an architectural and cultural reference in the Huerta Norte ”, comments Xavier Laumain to Traveler.es.
"The forecast for the future is quite promising and optimistic," they add. Josep Riera Vicent and Cristina Alonso Burgaz . Due to the current health situation, to enjoy this Valencian cultural jewel it is necessary to book by appointment, but it is worth witnessing this piece of the past that arrives in the form of our present!
A VALENCIAN HERITAGE TRADITION THAT SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN
The luck of this type of mosaic is that due to its laborious creation process it takes longer to remove it than to cover it with another material and many of the houses, barracks or mansions still have Nolla inside, out of sight of everyone. They simply wait dormant under our Valencian soils waiting to be recovered..
This is exactly what happened to Belén Gimeno (advertiser) and Jaume Navarro (graphic designer) when they began to renovate their brand new house in the neighborhood of Cabanyal-Canyamelar . Part of its building dates from 1888 and its façade is protected as Well of Cultural Interest so it is not surprising that the floor of his house was decorated with mosaic tiles and that in subsequent decades they had covered it with other materials so that it had been hidden.
“We didn't know of his existence until we ran into him during the reformation. At the time we thought it was hydraulic, but we have already begun to find out about the history of Miguel Nolla and discovered that we had a real treasure under our feet and we decided to lift all the ground and rebuild it little by little.”
“It is a ceramic that we believe gives a lot of personality to the house. We are now very used to making things very simple and these types of flooring they have a lot of work and we like to value that . Aesthetically it seems spectacular to us and we give it the value it deserves for its patrimonial culture and mixing it with more industrial and modern elements wins in full ”, continues the couple formed by Belén and Jaume.
The work involved in making and placing all the pieces of a Nolla mosaic leads us directly to highlight -in addition to this wonderful material- also the figure of the mosaic maker, " These operators have left us an exceptional legacy. Their know-how is an intangible heritage that is in danger of extinction and that we must value and recover . A Nolla mosaic is more than a set of pieces that form a drawing, it is a sample of the expertise of these magnificent installers”, they comment to Traveler.es from the ARAE Heritage and Restoration studio.
So now we know, if we want to maintain the legacy of this cultural heritage It is essential to make it known among the new generations so that it can once again enjoy the well-deserved value and recognition that has been due to it since the first day of its birth..
Belén Gimeno and Jaume Navarro rebuilt their apartment while preserving the Mosaico Nolla restaurant