The giant bench that united a whole town

Saint George DesvallsThe gigantic, excessive dimensions of the large red bench (the Big Bench) in Sant Jordi Desvalls make everyone who sits on it feel small, with their legs hanging down as if they were a child, but this feeling of smallness is compensated by the immensity of the views offered by its privileged location: in a nearly 360-degree turn, on clear days, the silhouettes of Canigó, Les Gavarres, Montgrí, L'Albera, Mare de Déu del Mont, Rocacorba, and El Far can be discerned on the horizon. Wooden indicators placed in a circle point towards where to look to discover each of these mountains. Another indicator points towards the beautiful hamlet of Diana, a must-visit.

Located on a high edge of a sown field, ten minutes' walk from the center of Sant Jordi Desvalls, the giant bench was placed in 2022 and is an attraction for visitors from all over the world, but it is also a very busy and beloved space for the residents of Sant Jordi Desvalls, where they come to take their daily walk, to enjoy unique sunsets, especially on windy days, or to spend some time in peace or reading. It is, in fact, "their" bench, because it was them, the entire village, who built and placed it in its spot, and who are responsible for its care and maintenance.

The idea of building the giant bench in this small town in Baix Empordà with 900 inhabitants arose at a ceramics fair in Milan where Irina Grosu and Josep Motas, from the firm Bussoga, were exhibiting the pieces they design and create in their artisan workshop in Sant Jordi Desvalls. "There we met the engineer and former BMW designer Chris Bangle, who, upon learning that we came from a small town, proposed that we install one of the giant benches from the Big Bench Community Project network, which he promotes worldwide to promote tourism in rural areas with high landscape value," recalls Irina. After the covid pandemic, Irina and Josep managed to get the rest of the Sant Jordi neighbors excited about making that idea a reality. "The most beautiful thing was that the whole town joined in and every Saturday, for almost a year, everyone contributed their bit," explains Irina. The retired carpenter lent his workshop and contributed his knowledge about the type of wood to buy and how to work it, those who knew how to weld were in charge of working on the iron structure, the town's doctor lent his porch to place the already assembled bench structure there and paint it its characteristic striking red...

To belong to the Big Bench Community network, the giant benches must meet several requirements, including having extraordinary dimensions (the one in Sant Jordi is 2.5 meters high by 3.5 meters wide, proportions that require climbing onto the bench via a small brick staircase), that the location where it is placed be permanently freely accessible, and that the construction is not paid for with public money. “All the material was paid for with the money we collected by organizing hot chocolate servings, bingo games, T-shirt sales, and other activities,” assures Irina.

From the long months of work to build the giant bench, the retired carpenter Dani Ministral particularly remembers the day it was transported from the main square to the field where it was to be installed. “We placed the bench on a wooden trailer with wheels and a mare pulled it. The whole village followed the operation in procession. It was very exciting,” recalls Dani.

The Sant Jordi one is the first Big Bench Community bank created in Spain and is the 199th in the world, where there are already more than 400 distributed in various countries. In Catalonia, they have recently been created in Vilalba Sasserra or Riba-roja d'Ebre.