L'Escala unveils sculpture honoring traditional fishermen

A new permanent sculpture has been installed in L'Escala to honor the town's maritime history and its traditional fishermen, known locally as 'esquenapelats'. The artwork is located at a roundabout near the beach that formerly served as the local port, where boats were manually pushed onto the sand.

The term 'esquenapelats' originated from the physical toll the work took on fishermen, who suffered wounds and bruises on their backs from the effort of moving boats. The sculpture, created by artists Josep Maria Vilaplana Nogué and Esther Tenedor Solsona, depicts several figures exerting strength around a vessel.

The piece is constructed using thousands of individual stainless steel plates welded together. This technique was chosen to symbolically represent the concept of community and collective effort, mirroring how the fishermen worked together to land their boats.