‘Salou wants to show the world its historical and cultural heritage, and that it is much more than just sun and beach’
Julia Gómez Mesonero, Councillor for Cultural Services at Salou Town Hall, explains to Atalayar what it means for the city to have been chosen as Capital of Catalan Culture 2025
On 26 January, Salou took over from Sabadell as the new Capital of Catalan Culture 2025 and inaugurated a year full of cultural activities in which the city wants to showcase its ancient historical heritage and foster a sense of belonging among its residents. Within the framework of FITUR 2025, the Councillor for Culture of Salou, Julia Gómez Mesonero, explained to Atalayar what this distinction means for the city.
Salou has been chosen as the Capital of Catalan Culture 2025. What does this election represent for the city?
Indeed, we were nominated along with two other cities and we have been chosen. For us it is a privilege and a pleasure to represent Catalonia during the year 2025. It means that we have the opportunity to show our cultural wealth, our historical heritage and, above all, that Salou is much more than sun and beach: that it has culture, that we are culture and that we want to show all of Catalonia, all of Spain and even the rest of the world everything that we have.
Is it important for the city to distance itself from the preconceived idea that Salou is sun and beach, to embrace other areas?
Exactly. Salou is better known for sun and beach tourism, for the summer season. But we have much more. With this, we want to show that we have culture, that we hold many events throughout the year. And it will also serve to deseasonalise the tourist season, because we will have events during all the months of the year. It will allow us to demonstrate and teach about Salou's historical heritage, which is thousands of years old, something that is not very well known because it has not been taught much. We are working with the Rovira i Virgili University on a project that will allow us to teach the whole history of Salou, from the Neolithic period, through the Roman and Greek eras... We have evidence of all this and we want to show it.
A very full programme of activities has been drawn up for this year. What can you tell us about it? Which are going to be the highlights?
On Sunday 26th January we took over the baton from Sabadell as the Capital of Catalan Culture. From then on, we are going to work on the preparations for the gala to present Salou as the new Capital of Catalan Culture 2025. We don't have the date finalised yet, although it will probably be in the month of February. From that moment on, we will start to hold different events; we don't have a fixed calendar, it is open and will be developed throughout the year. We are preparing activities of all kinds. We will cover all cultural topics, from traditional and popular culture, with a significant presence of the town's associations, to a music festival, Festiuet, on 18 and 19 July, with great Catalan rock bands and the group Camela, which is registering a great rate of ticket sales. There will also be other types of concerts, theatre, displays of traditional culture, human towers...
With this we also intend to involve all the educational centres in Salou, since as well as being the Councillor for Culture I am also the Councillor for Education, so that children and municipal organisations can participate, encouraging and promoting the feeling of belonging to Salou. We have more than 100 nationalities in the municipality and we want all these nationalities to have this feeling of belonging, to get to know Catalan culture and to show our wealth, which is great.
Is it also a showcase for a city like Salou to show itself to the world?
Of course; we already have almost 32,000 registered inhabitants, but during the tourist season more than two million people pass through Salou. Therefore, it is a showcase to the world, as you say, to show what we are: culture and tourism, and we want people to experience it and enjoy it with us.
How would you encourage people to come to Salou this year to enjoy the many events planned to mark the city's designation as Capital of Catalan Culture?
They just have to check the social networks and the Town Hall website (www.salou.cat) where all the information will be available so that they can be informed at all times, and come to Salou, to enjoy our history and also something very important, our gastronomy. Salou has a very important gastronomic culture and they can enjoy excellent restaurants where they can try Mediterranean cuisine: from a good fideuá to a rice dish, there is everything. We have a Michelin-starred restaurant, Deliranto, by chef Pep Moreno, who does incredible things.
