I met, being a child,/ the joy of turning/ on a colored steed,/ on a party night ./ (…) Children's joys/ that cost a coin/ copper, cute sticky,/ wooden horse!/ (Soledades, Antonio Machado, 1907). The poet could have written something very similar if he had known the beautiful pegas that turn for years, many years, in the Plaza de Alfons el Savi del Parc de Les Aigües. It is the oldest carousel in Barcelona and, it can be, in Catalonia. Every day, working and holidays, it opens for its small clientele. His name is Patufet. He manages a marriage of doctors, completely foreign to the world of the traders. They serve the journalist gently, but ask for anonymity. This great, poetic, toy, was manufactured in Reus. «And in 1987, a man proposed to buy it from my husband's father, who was a person with a thousand activities. He stayed. We have tried to date him. The seller's niece calculates more than 90 years.» After a slightly nomadic stage -Horta, the Joanic Plaza de Gràcia and that of Alfons el Savi-, in 2011 it was installed where it is now, in permanence. With the remodeling of the square in 2010, they had to dismantle it. They took advantage of the months of works for their restoration. A metal platform was placed instead of wood. After a first intervention in charge of a company, they now work with a mechanic, Francesc Palau, specialized in classic cars. «We recovered the aesthetics of the original carousel. If it was done, it should be done well.» They abound in the carousels, for example, somewhat psychedelic ornaments and they removed lights that were everywhere, covered holes, they carefully cared for the wooden pieces (the horses and a car), etc. «being outdoors needed many care. Palau is periodically responsible for restoring the different pieces.» Palau is also a collector. It has the oldest car in Barcelona, a Renault registration B-187, and is the only artisan teacher censored by the Generalitat in vehicle restoration. «The main difficulty,» explains Palau, «is to return its original condition to the stroller.» The documentation is easy «because they are unmistakable icons of an era (Shark, Alfa Romeo, firefighters …)». «We leave the car in live iron, we don't use fiber.» Palau highlights the generosity of the marriage that Patufet maintains. «The easy thing was to leave. They do a patronage task, making the carousel available to the city.»Carousel of the Alfons El Savi Square. In the image, a girl turns on a carousel taxi. [ALBERT GARCIA]
Albert Garciaaunque have two employees to cover the turns of the carousel and a nearby churrería, the maintenance of an ingenuity like this, asks for close attention. «We are not a company. One Sunday they can call you to locate an electrician or a mechanic to solve a breakdown.» The marriage will continue to dedicate the time you need. After them, it is not known. They have had two hypothetical buyers, one local and another Belgian, collector of vestusta attractions. They discarded the propositions. «We don't do it for money. We do it because we like antiques.» They retain an indelible image during the pandemic: a child crying because his horse were locked up. They have never received subsidies. Of course, since it is a historic machine they can be fixed in the same place all year, without having to move as the other urban attractions do. “The people of the neighborhood value a lot what we have on the street. Many have been remembering that their father also brought them.” And to see the oldest in operation, they say, you have to go to Letna Park of Prague. The accredited origin of the invention does not speak precisely about child recess. It served for cavalry training that from the wooden steeds had to skewer dolls or rings. Installed in the secret corners of the castles, over the years the courtiers of the realities began to enjoy them. It is in the nineteenth century when they begin to meet at the fairs and talk about German manufacturers (the Dentzel and the Heyn) or French (the Bayol). And there are museums, more or less large, in Bristol (Great Britain) and in Kansas, and Albany and Ohio, which is dedicated to conservation, says its website, 200 facilities throughout the United States. They are guardians of those old people, cute sticky who, in Barcelona, care so that they aged without achaques, can be rushed in the Plaza Alfons el Savi.