“Last summer in Ordino” literary route

The porch of the church of Sant Climent de Pal was where the community could gather and discuss all those matters that interested rural and farming communities. It was the only building large enough for the attendance, and it belonged to everyone.

This porch, however, is not part of the Romanesque church. In fact, of all the Romanesque churches in Andorra, this is perhaps one of the least Romanesque, yet at the same time the one that most symbolises the passage of time, the changes in fashions and architectural styles.

The first reference we find to the building dates from the 14th century (1312), though it is likely older: its typology allows us to trace it back to the 12th or 11th century.

Few elements remain from that period: the south wall; the porch is from the 20th century and is the work of Cèsar Martinell, who reused features of Romanesque art. For example, the semicircular arches or the sawtooth decoration; between the 16th and 17th centuries the semicircular apse was modified into a quadrangular one and the adjacent sacristy was built. However, symbolic elements were preserved, such as the opening/window facing east. East is the direction of Jerusalem, but it is also where the church receives the first light of morning.

At the foot of the nave, the extension towards the north is clearly visible. If you have the opportunity to visit the inside of the church in summer, you will see the chapel and the sacristy that were added. Moreover, this is where the entrance door was moved from the 17th century; it was walled up in the 1960s and reopened in its original location.

The bell tower is the Romanesque architectural element that has remained most unchanged since it was built. We can see highly stylised twin windows, and on the top floor, double twin windows. The windows of the last two floors are framed within blind arcuations. This is the only example of double twin windows in Andorra.

Now we stand before a house that is perhaps the most remarkable in the village.

If we look at the house quickly, we can see that it is an example of vernacular architecture. With three levels and a quadrangular plan, it belongs to the architectural tradition of the important houses of the Pyrenees. But what we notice most is its immaculate colour. This was the case for almost all constructions until the 20th century.

Its rehabilitation is part of a larger protection plan for the village dating from 1997, through which buildings are inventoried, a historical-artistic assessment is made, and the prohibition of modifying the natural terrain is established.

But a house is not only stones, mortar, plaster and beams.

The house is the place "where we make fire and eat bread", but it is also the entirety of the properties and lands as well as the whole human group, past and present.

The main concern for all families, at all times, has been to preserve the heritage and transmit it in its entirety.

In fact, to protect the house against the risk of squandering, special rules were imposed, such as the unavailability of ancestral goods and the prohibition of selling land, with the possibility of recovering it. This system sacrificed the interests of the younger sons, who originally could not take anything away, but from the end of the Middle Ages onwards they were granted the right to the legitimate share.

This system allowed the regulation of the demographic level in relation to resources. Here we reach a very important point for understanding the house of the past. Everything is about adapting, and for this reason the (physical) building is still present. The rural family, like that of Andorra, will always adapt to the land it cultivates and works; it is a fluid, extensive, open and elastic group according to needs: its members, like the materials of Casa Nicolau, are autonomous yet essential elements that ensure its preservation.

Pal is a small village that we all know, at least by name, but in many respects it remains a secret. If we make the effort to listen to what the old stones want to tell us, we can follow the thread of a story we thought was lost and let it explain our present.

In a not-so-distant past it was far more important than today, since Pal rivalled in many respects villages that are larger today, such as La Massana, and from antediluvian times it was one of the main accesses to the country.

These movements, of people, goods, livestock, from Andorra outwards and from the outside inwards, have long characterised Pal and given it a personality that is hard to imagine today, with a life extremely tied to that of the other side of the pass and a landmark: a lighthouse in the Andorran Pyrenees.

The past of Pal and its relationship with the neighbouring territories is embodied in Setúria, where Andorra grew larger.

Legend of the Fight of Setúria

Andorra's current border has not always been in that place. In fact, many centuries ago the shepherds of Pal and Os de Civís fought over the grazing rights in Setúria. Both sides complained, above all because no one could confirm who had the right to be there.

One day it was decided that two men would be chosen, one from each village, to fight: the coma of Setúria would belong to the victor.

On the day of the fight the two colossuses threw themselves at each other. The Andorran, faster and more agile, dodged the powerful blows of his adversary and began to run with the aim of wearing out the champion of Os. Running and changing direction for hours, the latter eventually became exhausted.

The native of Pal, that very thin man, compensated for his lack of physical strength with great cunning and in the end brought down his adversary and kept him pinned to the ground until the referee declared him the winner.

Since then the Andorrans bring their livestock to the coma of Setúria and, for this reason, every year at the end of June the shepherds drive the livestock up there after it has been blessed by the priest of La Massana, preserving the site of the famous battle for future generations.

A fountain has several functions: water flows from it, an indispensable element for life, and it provides access to the inhabitants; it was the central element in the social organisation of a village and also had a function of salubrity: it limited the risk of cholera (19th century) or other diseases that could originate from a dirty water point.

It is not known since when the village of Pal has had this fountain. In the memory of its inhabitants, it has always been there.

The use of water has always followed an immutable hierarchy:

- First, it was for human and animal consumption.

- Secondly, it was for cleaning (we will speak about it during this itinerary).

- Thirdly, for irrigation.

We must imagine ourselves in the 14th century, when we have the first written records and the representation of Andorrans outside the country, who negotiated agreements with the neighbouring lords. From this period is born the institutional hierarchy that we still know today, an organisation structured with the aim of covering all layers of society and of the territory. First the Consell de la Terra, the Comú and the Quart.

This last organisation is that of the village. We have little knowledge of its beginnings. We suppose they were meetings in communal places where the various affairs of the village or of the neighbourhood community were dealt with. The explanation for the emergence of these representations was the difficulties of communication and the decisions with purely local effects.

The Quarts of La Massana:

- L'Aldosa

- Anyós

- Pal

- Arinsal

- Sispony

- Erts

And a last one, quite curious. It is the Quart mitger, which was made up of three houses from L'Aldosa and three from Anyós, but which were also part of their own quart.

Moreover, the situation differs according to the parishes. Encamp has no quart, but the leading families of the parish had representatives in the Comú. In Canillo there are veïnats, equivalent to the Quarts. In Ordino and Sant Julià they also have Quarts.

What prerogatives did and do the Quarts have?

They had commons, the meadows belonging to the Quart, and forests, as well as various taxes and representatives in the Comú. Furthermore, although they are part of the Comú, they also have a certain autonomy. It is a local organisation with decision-making powers affecting their direct sphere, with representatives in the larger entity.

That of Pal has a peculiar history compared to the others. It served as a school for a time, in the first half of the 20th century.

The need to wash clothes is linked to elements of everyday life. It was in the 16th century that the first laundry pools began to be built, and rules were applied to protect the water resource and ensure its quality.

Contrary to what is commonly thought, only the last stage of the cleaning process was carried out at the laundry pool.

Before bringing the clothes to the laundry pool, water was heated with soap or ashes to disinfect them and not dirty the pool's water. Then, they were taken to the laundry pool where the last remnants of the previous process were removed, which required considerable physical effort, since apart from the uncomfortable position one had to beat the clothes with a washing paddle. The aim here was to bleach and rinse the clothes, with soap.

The laundry pool, however, is much more than that; it is one of the basic structures of social life. At the laundry pool, all the women of the village would gather for this activity. It was an opportunity to socialise and, in a way, to think, talk, laugh or have fun, which compensated for the effort required by the washing. From these multiple conversations was born the expression fer safareig, “to indicate when one is gossiping or telling things about other people”.

From the laundry pool we can observe another water-related activity.

In Andorra, agriculture has always been limited by the importance of livestock farming. At the time of its greatest extension, agriculture never represented more than 4% of the land. Faced with these problems, terraces were built to gain land from the mountain and ensure food for the family or the casa.

This was only for those who had land. Otherwise, there were the boïgues, which allowed, for an economic counterpart, the use, clearing and occupation of parish lands.