Salt Workers Church

Closed for almost 25 years, the church has
reopened its doors

The Spanish king had the church built for the salt workers at the beginning of the 18th century and it has been closed for almost a quarter of a century. However, when our reporter, Wiltrud Schwetje, visited the Sant Francesc de Paula church in the Ses Salines national park, she was in for a surprise - because it has once again been transformed into a fully-functional chapel, thanks to the tireless efforts of a team of helpers.

The Spanish flag flies next to its Balearic counterpart, birds twitter and circle the salt water below as a Boeing jet with its loud twin engines can be heard landing at the nearby airport, but there's no sound from the DC 10 nightclub, now or in the forseeable future.

Until recently the paint was peeling off the outer walls of the rectory and one or two plants had managed to establish themselves on the roof. Before the recently completed renovation, the Sant Francesc de Paula church located on the Carretera sa Canal didn't seem to have changed much and still gave off the musty charm unique to neglected old buildings, but appearances can be deceptive.

The sculpture of a salt worker by Pedro Hormigo

Once you enter the church forecourt, this first impression disappears: the doors are freshly varnished and the walls are dazzlingly white. Unfortunately a few of the original unique features have fallen by the wayside, for example the ornate wrought iron bars to the windows, but the new windows give the building sleeker lines over all.

During the renovation the inside of the church was a hive of activity as the Sant Francesc helpers were busy cleaning, sweeping, painting the windows and gallery, moving the pews into place, and carrying flower arrangements and pots containing some odd, indefinable object. The average age of those present was somewhere between retirement age and Methuselah, but people were having loud conversations, laughing, joking and pottering about.

The priest and his helpers

At the eventual inauguration a marquee was set up next to the church for the hundreds of people who attended. Today, however, the bronze sculpture of a salt worker with the basket on his head, by the artist Pedro Hormigo, strikes a lonely pose behind the church to remind people that for over two and a half thousand years, the island's salt was its main source of income.

For two whole months, the residents of Sant Francesc helped to restore their village church. "Nine men built the wooden altar in their spare time," the young priest, Pedro Miguel Lopez Munoz explains. You can see that he's pleased with the results and can even sense a little pride in their achievements. It wasn't until July 2006 that the bishop assigned him to the parish and transferred him from Santa Eulalia to Sant Jordi, but the priest has established a good relationship with his new congregation. You can tell that working together to restore the former salt workers' church has brought the priest and the volunteers close together.

The majority of those who helped to renovate the church have known each other all their lives. Back then, priest "Pere" hadn't even been born and the church by the salt flats was at the heart of the village community. "When the airport was built, it split up our village. People were forced to vacate their properties, an entry road was blocked off and many of our neighbours had to take a longer route, via Sant Jordi, to get here. Soon they stopped coming altogether. Back then we used to meet every Sunday," says Antonio Serra Mari.

Maria and Maria with the festive day decoration known as "bruie"

He smiles as he recalls the unorthodox methods the villagers used to use in order to raise funds in days gone by: every now and then, these would include raffling off Ibizan sausages. Last autumn, this tradition was revived. The church interior is simple but cosy: sturdy pews, a wooden gallery painted pale grey and numerous icons. A stoup and a baptismal font are located by the entrance. "We all wanted to see the church reopen," say the three older women in charge of the flowers.

Festive decorations

Maria Sala and Maria Ribas are holding that strange mushroom shaped bunch of plants that I noticed when I first entered the church. What on earth can it be? The two Marias are only too happy to provide a lesson in horticulture and island history. The item in question is "bruie", and is traditionally used as decoration during the Easter festival. If you're interested in finding out how this exotic plant is grown, the answer is simple: sprinkle lentils into a plant pot filled with earth and water them regularly for about three weeks. Interesting results can also be achieved by using oats and birdseed.

"We hadn't done this for years, but we wanted to make a special effort to decorate our church in the traditional way to make it as beautiful as possible for the official inauguration," the three green fingered experts conclude. No sooner said than done. Together, the residents of Sant Francesc helped to lovingly revive a small part of the Ibiza of old right here in the salt flats.

For almost a quarter of a century, the salt workers' church was a bleak and desolate place. Now, the cosy chapel is as good as new. The village's patron saint, St. Francis, gazes contentedly down at the congregation from his place at the centre of the new altar - as well he should! Since the church's official inauguration a weekly routine has been established with a mass every Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

There are plans to install a visitor's centre in the neighbouring rectory to provide holidaymakers with information about the national park. The bodies involved are hoping that the necessary building work will be completed by the end of the year. Following this, the church will also be open to visitors on other days of the week.