The tradition inspired by Maragall of installing a 54-square-meter, 6.5-kilogram flag is being revived
The Parliament hosted a solemn ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, on the eve of Catalonia’s National Day, for the inauguration and hoisting of the flag of Catalonia, the ‘senyera’, led by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa; the President of the Parliament, Josep Rull; and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.
The ‘senyera’, measuring 54 square meters, has been placed on a 25-meter-high pole on one side of the Parliament building, facing Joan Fiveller Square in Parc de la Ciutadella, where it will remain permanently.
With the decision of the Mesa to bring back the hoisting ceremony, the Parliament aims to give solemnity and importance to this symbol, following the example of former President of the Generalitat Ernest Maragall, who introduced changes to the celebration in 2004.
The event was attended by a wide range of political and institutional figures, including members of the Government and the Parliament’s Mesa, the Government’s delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, the President of the Diputación de Barcelona, Lluïsa Moret, former Presidents of the Generalitat Jordi Pujol, José Montilla, Artur Mas, and Pere Aragonès, former Presidents of the Parliament, former councilors, as well as Parliament members, party representatives, city councilors, union and business leaders, municipal entities, and consular bodies.
Notably absent were representatives from the PP, CUP, Aliança Catalana (AC), and Vox.
Transfer to ‘CAP I CASAL’
The ceremony began with three members of the Mossos d’Esquadra Guard of Honors moving the ‘senyera’ from inside the Chamber, specifically from the room with Antoni Tàpies’ painting ‘7 de novembre’, to the exterior of the building, accompanied by the sardana ‘Marxa Solemnial’ performed by the Cobla Sant Jordi-Ciutat de Barcelona.
Subsequently, the group of gralla players Les Antines performed the popular song ‘Els tres tambors’, after which Illa, Collboni, and Rull received the flag and officially handed it over to Collboni, as the Mayor of the capital of Catalonia (‘cap i casal de Catalunya’).
The Mossos d’Esquadra Guard of Honors and the Gala Urban Guard then unfurled and anchored the flag, which was hoisted to the sound of ‘El cant de la senyera’, performed by the Orfeó Català.
The event was hosted by actor Lluís Soler, with contributions from actors Miriam Moukhles and Joan Sentís, concluding with the performance of ‘El cant dels ocells’, the reading of the poem ‘Ara mateix’ by Miquel Martí Pol, and the Catalan national anthem, ‘Els Segadors’.
After the hoisting of the ‘senyera’ alongside the Parliament building, the institutional reception of political, economic, cultural, and social representatives was reinstated inside the Palau del Parlament, a tradition observed on the eve of the National Day between 1980 and 2008.
THE FLAG
The flag, measuring six by nine meters (54 square meters), weighs 6.5 kilograms and is made of recycled polyester from plastic containers. The 25-meter pole, made of steel, matches the height of the highest point on the Parliament facade, weighing 1,800 kilograms and capable of withstanding wind gusts of up to 140 km/h with the flag raised, although it will be lowered if wind warnings of 100 km/h are issued.
At the base of the flagpole, an inscription explaining the symbolism and history of the Catalan flag has been installed, written in Catalan and readable in Braille, with a QR code for accessing translations in Spanish, Aranese, English, French, German, and Italian.
The cost of the flag, pole, and interpretive plaque was €49,249, while the adaptation works amounted to €43,702.