A new elegant and extremely interesting edition with photographs by Oscar Pipkin and texts by Marinella Katsilieri was recently published by Centro Unesco Mallorca, the Associacio Intercambio Cultural /AIM and the support of the Institut d’estudis balearics and 29 municipalities of the Balearic Islands (Spain).
The olive tree is omnipresent and has a profound influence on the Mediterranean landscape. A symbol tree, it shapes the natural and cultural landscapes that patiently moulds over time. Its history, made up of legends and historical events, is inextricably linked to those of the great civilizations.
In the arms of the Mediterranean, Mallorca is synonymous with the sea, the sun and the olive tree. The Serra de la Tramuntana, inscribed in 2011 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural landscape, is a perfect example of an authentic natural and cultural landscape where the olive tree is a trademark. Oscar Pipkin’s collection of photographs highlights the aesthetic qualities of this landscape, with the olive tree and its trunks, supreme artistic expressions of nature, inviting the reader of this book on a unique journey of knowledge and new discoveries.
In this book (written in 5 languages), through this photographic collection by Oscar Pipkin and the vivid texts by Marinella Katsilieri, the whole history and aspects of the olive tree unfold: its symbolism, its origins, its role in monotheistic religions and art, its intangible heritage, its cultivation, the uses of the olive tree and olive oil, the Mediterranean diet.
The journey that begins through the pages of this book is endless. The history of the olive tree goes back to the depths of the centuries and has its roots in the primeval myths of the Mediterranean peoples. From word to word, from image to image, from village to village and then from coast to coast, the reader-traveller will never want to leave this beautiful adventure around these lands and this Mediterranean of the olive tree that is ours.