Mesmerizing Photos of the Human Tower Festivalsof Catalonia

Michael Zhang Apr 04, 2013

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Every year in Catalonia, Spain, there are festivals in which people come together to build colorful andridiculously tall human towers that are supported by nothing but the participants strength, balance, andcourage. These towers are called castells, which means castles in Catalan.

Photographer David Oliete visited the Concurs de Castells festival last year and managed to capture beautifulphotographs of the tradition from a high vantage point.

Concurs de Castells is the most important of the human tower competitions, and takes place in the city ofTarragona once every two years. Last year, 32 teams from all over the region participated, attracting a liveaudience of over 20,000 people.

During the tower building events, teams known as collas form tightly bunched crowds consisting of hundreds ofpeople in order to support the towers. The taller and more difficult a tower is, the more points the team scores.

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Each tower is typically between six and ten levels high, and each team consists of about 100-500 men, women,and children (the children climb to the top while the adults especially the heavier ones form the supports).

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You can find more of Olietes photos from the festival in this Flickr set and on his personal website.

Castells by David Oliete (via Colossal)

Image credits: Photographs by David Oliete and used with permission

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yeah 3 hours agopretty psychedelic

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the all mighty one 17 hours agoHappy happy joy joy

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John Kantor 19 hours agoStrength, balance, and courage are not the three words I would use.

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phylicia 14 hours ago> John KantorAgreed

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madmax 20 hours agoPictures are good and original, but I would prefer a floor or side perspective.

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For your info 2 hours ago> madmaxYou can go to the page of one of the more than 60 "colles" existing today (in fact, thelast winner of championship) 3w dot castellersdevilafranca dot cat

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Geoffrey Froment a day agoim going to be on the next contest. David Oliete if you come here please tell me how to jointhis contest :)

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Caca Milis a day agoI remember seeing the 'Castells' last year in Reus (20mins from Tarragona) an awesomeevent and you can see brave kids of about 5/6 years old climbing to the top (one fell but was okthanks to the human safety net).

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