And our school, what?

The children of the Escola del Mar, now located in Guinardó, were visited two years ago by Mayor Collboni, who had just taken office at the time, and asked him why, as promised, the historic Barceloneta building, destroyed in 1938 by the Feix bombs, hadn't been rebuilt. They caught the mayor off guard. He didn't know what they were talking about. And he told them he would get on with it. Two years later, the children returned the visit to the city council this Friday and, smiling but determined, asked him the same question again: "Mayor, what about the reconstruction of the Escola del Mar?" The mayor told them it would be done, yes... But it's still unknown where or when. The school wouldn't be for them, but for the city. But they've made it their own: they are their roots.

In the main building, all the political groups (except Vox) agree that it must be done. ERC negotiated the PSC's commitment. But time passes without any progress. Opportunities have been lost along the way. At the end of Colau's term, there was a project and money, with the Manifesta art biennial, enthusiastic about contributing to such a meaningful historical recovery. The final result? Nothing at all. The centenary of the emblematic building, a unique wooden work by Josep Goday, is behind us. A marvel, also for its content: that exemplary institution built on the sand of the beach, a beacon of the most advanced pedagogy that welcomed sick children from vulnerable families, is a world reference. It deserves a new life.

The Councilor for Education, Lluís Rabell, explains to me that the will to recover it is firm and that the chief architect, Maria Bohigas, "is looking for a feasible location and proposal," but immediately warns that "it won't be a maximum" and that there are a few technical and urban planning "obstacles." Oh my! In any case, the idea is to recreate the wooden building and house the National Museum of Education of Catalonia, promoted by two subsidiary companies of the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC). Rabell doesn't dare to set dates. Everything indicates that by 2026, when Barcelona hosts the International Congress of Architecture, there will be no Escola del Mar. It would have aroused the admiration of professionals everywhere. Another missed opportunity.

Such slowness exasperates the project's promoters, especially architect Marc Cuixart, who has spent over a decade struggling and colliding with the disappointing municipal reality. The initial good words of various political leaders have never translated into action. Teresa Guillaumes, the director of the school that inherited the Escola del Mar, also remains skeptical, but she doesn't waver: "We will continue to insist, we will continue working."

Goday designed it in 1920, and, no sooner said than done, it was inaugurated by 1922. Only two years passed. And those weren't exactly peaceful times: between 1916 and 1923, there were no fewer than nine mayors, amid a polarized society marked by street violence. In 1920, 49 people were shot or killed in Barcelona in a single month. But the Escola del Mar was built: the pedagogical utopia was making headway. Before that, in 1914, the Forest School had already been built on Montjuïc. Education was at the heart of a project for social change. It was a political priority. Is it really that way today?

Now the Escola del Mar isn't being built. There's a lot of talk about it, though. And we need educational optimism more than ever. We need to look to the best past to emerge from the educational confusion of the present. Pere Vergés, director and factotum of that school, understood it as "a republic of children" who, reading and drawing, playing and doing crafts, in contact with nature, with "active leisure and active silence," learned to think and developed their intellect and sensitivity. The great pedagogue Vergés read little pedagogy and was greatly inspired, instead, by Goethe, D'Ors, and Maragall. Through the beauty of words, I sought the beauty of the soul.

All of this is the legacy of the Escola del Mar. It needs to be rebuilt and projected forward. Without further delay. Let's get it done, please.