Pedra en sec (dry-stone walling) and margers — Traditional craft of Mallorca

What it is and technique

Construction with stone without mortar: each stone is chosen and fitted so that the wall is supported by weight and friction. It makes margins (terrace walls), marjades, barracks, ponts, paved roads, aljubs, sitges. The wall drains water and stops erosion.

Short story

Millennial technique. Its builders, the margers, have modeled the landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana (World Heritage as a cultural landscape, 2011). In the Tramuntana alone, more than 19,000 linear km of margins are estimated.

Chronology:

Prehistory: Talayotic architecture already builds stone walls without mortar (context).
Andalusian and medieval period: terraces linked to irrigation in the Serra valleys (to verify specific dates).
16th-19th centuries: great expansion of marjades for olive groves in the Tramuntana; most of the margins we see are born (to verify figures).
20th century: abandonment of the countryside and the margins with tourism.
2004: Pere J. Brunet publishes a status of the cataloging of dry stone constructions and roads (Estudis d'Història Agrària, 17).
2011: Tramuntana, World Heritage (cultural landscape).
2016: The Gremi de Margers is born.
Nov. 2018: UNESCO inscribes the art of dry stone (8 countries: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland).
2026-2027: first professional dry stone certificate in the Balearic Islands.

Where and who today

About 200 margers on the island (data from 2018-2019).
Gremi de Margers de Mallorca (2016; 40 members in 2019). escola-de-margers-gremi
Margers del Consell School on the Raixa public estate (Bunyola); courses also in Galatzó (Calvià) and in the So n'Amer refuge (Escorca). In 2024: 55 students trained in total.
The Consell restored 16 km of margins in the Tramuntana in five years (2022).

State

Alive and with institutional momentum. "Knowledge and techniques of the art of building dry stone walls": UNESCO, November 2018 (candidacy from eight countries; the Balearic Islands included). New: professional stone certificate in sec from the 2026-2027 academic year. Problems: construction regulations that do not fit with the technique (2019), aging.

Contemporary Updates

Pending: architects and landscapers who integrate pedra en sec in new construction in Mallorca.

Process step by step

1. Destoning: the stone comes out of the same field. It is collected and classified by size.

2. Fonament: a trench is opened to solid ground or rock.

3. Peu: first course with the largest stones.

4. Filades: each stone with the face facing outward and the long tail facing inward (pedra travada). The joints intersect: never joint upon joint.

5. Rebliment: behind the face it is filled with small stone (reble). It's the wall drain.

6. Talus: the margin leans a little towards the ground it supports.

7. Coronament: final course of flat or edged stones that closes and protects the wall.

Tools: maça or pot, escoda, perpal (lever), corda i plom, cove or senalla, cart.
Times: depend on the stone and the slope; There is no verified data on m²/day (please verify with the Gremi).

Forms and objects

Marge / marjada: retaining wall that creates a sloping terrace (feixa).
Paret de tanca: wall separating farms, typical of the Pla.
Roter barracks: refuge for those who cultivated plowed lands far from home. Almost rectangular plan, a single portal and a gable roof in its original form.
Carboner barracks: circular hut next to the sitja. See carboners-i-sitges .
Barraques de bestiar i porxos: livestock shelter.
Voltes: covered by approximation of courses (false dome), in barracks and cisterns.
Stairs: built-in steps or escalons volats (stones that protrude from the wall).
Ponts and paved roads (Camí des Barranc de Biniaraix, carriage roads).
Aljubs, you are from batre, rotlos from sitja and forns from calç. See calciners-i-forns-de-calc .

Vocabulary

margin: margin constructor.
marge: dry stone wall that supports earth.
marjada: set of stepped terraces.
feixa: strip of flat farmland.
filada: row of stones.
face: seen front of the wall.
pedra travada: stone that goes deep and binds the wall.
reble / rebliment: small stone for filling and drainage.
peu: base of the wall.
coronament: upper finish.
escuda: cutting hammer for roughing.
perpal: bar to move large stones.
climbed volat: cantilevered step.
roter: peasant who plowed and cultivated rotes.
aljub: covered cistern.
window / gusher (to be verified): drainage openings at the base of the margin.

Geography

Serra de Tramuntana: steep slopes, abundant limestone and concentrated rain. Without margins there is no cultivation. It is the main focus.
Pla and Levante: the tanca and barraques walls dominate.
The stone is that of the place: the wall has the color of the land where it is.

Xifres

More than 19,000 linear km of estimated margins in the Tramuntana.
About 200 margers on the island (2018-2019); Gremi: 40 members (2019).
55 students trained by the Escola de Margers (2024).
16 km of margins restored by the Consell in five years (data from 2022).
GR 221 Ruta de Pedra en Sec: 168.4 km signposted (91.7 km main + 76.7 km of variants; tourist source).
UNESCO: November 2018. Tramuntana World Heritage: 2011.

Why is it design

Zero kilometer material: it is built with what hinders cultivation.
No added energy: no cement or cooking.
Double functional: holds soil and drains water. Stops erosion.
Repairable and reversible: a fallen stone is replaced.
Shape = topography: the wall draws contour lines.
It is the best example of proximity design on the island.

For the project

Possible piece: open dry stone workshop for designers/architects; exhibition piece that shows the wall as an "algorithm" (selection and fitting); cartography of margins in the atlas.
Contact: Gremi de Margers; Margers School (Raixa, Consell de Mallorca).
Background question: is the marge the most sustainable infrastructure ever designed on the island?

Frequently asked questions

What is Pedra en sec (dry-stone walling) and margers?

Construction with stone without mortar: each stone is chosen and fitted so that the wall is supported by weight and friction. It makes margins (terrace…

Who practises Pedra en sec (dry-stone walling) and margers in Mallorca today?

The Balearic Islands Crafts Register lists 50 artisans linked to this craft, in Campos, Palma, Lloseta, Esporles, Binissalem.

What are the traditional words for Pedra en sec (dry-stone walling) and margers?

Some words: aljub, cara, coronament, escaló volat, escoda, feixa, filada, marge.

Sources

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

Open it in the atlas →