Castells: How Catalonia Builds Human Towers

If you’re in Barcelona or anywhere in Catalonia during festival season and see a crowd gathered in a square, climb on something and look over their heads. There’s a real chance you’re about to watch a group of people build a tower out of themselves.

What a castell actually is

A castell is a human tower, built by a team called a colla, with no harnesses, no nets, and no safety equipment beyond helmets for the children involved. The tradition started in the 18th century in Valls, a town near Tarragona, and grew out of a folk dance that used to end with people lifting each other into a small human figure. Over time the tower-building broke off and became its own thing.

In 2010, UNESCO added castells to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognising them as a living tradition rather than a historical curiosity.

How a tower is actually built

Every castell has three parts, and the names are worth knowing because you’ll hear them shouted across the square:

• The pinya. A wide ring of people at the base, packed in tight. Their job is to hold everything above them steady, and to catch anyone who falls.
• The tronc. Catalan for trunk, this is the tower itself, built level by level, with a set number of people standing on each other’s shoulders per level.
• The pom de dalt. The top, usually three levels, climbed by the lightest and youngest members of the team, sometimes children as young as five or six. They’re the ones who get the applause when the tower is complete.

Towers are named by how many people stand on each level and how many levels there are. A “4 de 9” means four people per level, nine levels high. The tallest ever recorded reached ten levels, first achieved in 1998.

Why it still matters

Castells were never banned outright, even under Franco’s dictatorship, because at the time they weren’t seen as a political symbol, just a local tradition. That’s part of why the practice survived largely intact, and why today it’s one of the clearest living symbols of Catalan identity: open to anyone, built on trust in the people standing next to you, and passed down by people actually doing it rather than performing it.

There are over 100 colles active across Catalonia today, and together they raise several thousand castells every year, mostly between the feast of Sant Joan in June and late October.

Where to actually see one

Castells show up at local festivals, known as festa major, across Catalan towns and villages throughout the warmer months. Barcelona itself has its own casteller groups and sees towers at major city festivals. If you’re planning around one specifically, check what’s on locally before you go, since dates and locations shift from town to town and year to year.

Common questions

Is building castells dangerous?

There’s real risk and no harnesses are used, but the pinya exists specifically to catch falls, and children climbing the top levels wear helmets. Serious injuries are rare relative to how often towers are built.

Where did castells originate?

In Valls, a town near Tarragona, in the 18th century, growing out of a folk dance called the ball de valencians.

When were castells declared UNESCO heritage?

In 2010, when UNESCO added them to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Can anyone join a colla?

Yes. Casteller teams are community groups, not professional performers, and most welcome new members regardless of age or experience. Climbing to the top is reserved for the lightest, usually children, but building the base is open to anyone with the willingness to stand in a very tightly packed crowd.

What does “castell” mean?

It’s Catalan for “castle.” The towers were named for their shape rather than any literal connection to a building.