The entire casteller world, in one click

BarcelonaThe human tower world is full of publications covering the past and present from many different areas. In both bibliographic and audiovisual formats, you can review the history of human towers, delve into the inner workings of a group, recall great achievements, read a children's story... Now, all these resources are unified in the repository created by the URV Chair for the Study of Human Towers, which can be found at: with just one click.

The proposal, as explained by the Chair's director, Marta Calull, was to "bring order" to all the publications that have been produced over the years. The work was carried out in collaboration with the URV's Learning and Research Resource Center (CRAI). The initial proposal was to compile bibliographic publications, but the documentary section and the list of various human tower-themed programs were eventually added.

The guide opened this April with nearly 130 references to books, research papers, and educational resources in the bibliographic section and 26 audiovisual documentaries, as well as television and radio programs.

The Chair, however, is working to expand the collection and is in the process of compiling the publications of the same groups. It has issued a call for proposals to incorporate them.

Digitization process

Another of its objectives is the digitization of publications. Recently, the URV has reached an agreement with the Cossetània publishing house to publish the volumes of the Enciclopèdia Castellera in digital form. The first four are now available.

One of the projects that has also been initiated is to create the Encyclopedia in web format. This option will allow the contents to be updated and made more accessible to users.

Projects on security and climate change

The Chair also aims to develop projects to reflect on the world of human towers. For this reason, it has participated in the work of the proposals for improving the Castells Competition and is immersed in two projects related to safety and climate change.

The first project is studying the accident rate among children building human towers (castellers) in falls compared to those who play soccer. The project, carried out by a research group at the URV Faculty of Medicine, has lasted two years, and the results are expected to be released after the summer.

At the same time, work is being done to analyze the impact of climate change and rising temperatures on the human tower world. The project began last year and has continued this season. This Sant Joan season, members of the study were in Valls, where temperatures reached nearly 34 degrees.