Portbou

Is a work by Dani Karavan that consists of different parts.Description: First passage: the tunnel. A corridor on a steep slope with 87 steps leading from the square of the entrance to the cemetery to the sea. It is a narrow metal staircase sandwiched between rusted iron plates 2.35 m high in a corridor that, like a tunnel, has been dug into the slope. When 75% of the route has been covered, a piece of glass gets in the way and prevents you from following the route. In the background, a swirling sea, as close as it is inaccessible. And in the glass, a quote that challenges the weight of the past and memory: "It is a more arduous task to honor the memory of anonymous beings than that of famous people. The historical construction is dedicated to the memory of those who have no first name". Below the quote, Walter Benjamin's name. Karavan selected this quotation from Benjamin from the preliminary works of theses On the Concept of History (1940). As you go down the tunnel, the sea and the mountains of Cap Cerbère appear. Every September 26, the date of Benjamin's death, the shadow passes by his name, which is the signature of the quote. Second passage: the wall. When climbing the stairs of the tunnel, a slice of blue sky suggests freedom. A railway track reminds us of a railway that takes us to a wall of stones embedded in a bank. It can't go from there. Third passage: The olive tree. Following the circuit path that goes to Colera, a steep and rocky path opens up that leads from the cemetery esplanade to the other elements of the Karavan Memorial, which are behind it. The artist has integrated his work into this natural path, which is the path to the back entrance of the cemetery, the non-Catholic part. The path leads to an old olive grove of native vegetation where fate, the wind and the sun, have left their mark on the sinuous forms. A tree used repeatedly by Karavan as a sign of human resistance and reconciliation. The narrow platform with few steps at the foot of the olive tree invites you to pause in the landscape and observe the olive tree, the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. And in the background, the view of the old border crossing. This step of the Memorial vindicates one of Karavan's leitmotifs: "olive trees should be our borders", as he did at the 1976 Venice Biennale, representing the State of Israel. Fourth Passage: The Milestone Platform of the Passages. The path, narrow and rocky, leads to a small esplanade with a square platform of 16 m2 with a stone cube in the middle that invites you to pause. The esplanade is open to the sea and the horizon. However, a metal wire fence, similar to those used in concentration camps, stands between the walker and the horizon, it is the old cemetery fence, which Karavan has left intact. On the central cube, one can sit there, listen to the wind, the birds, the trains, it is a place for reflection. The tour ends at the cemetery, where Benjamin is buried in a mass grave and in the symbolic grave of Walter Benjamin where the official acts are held and where today a plaque recalls the last letter he wrote in this town expressing his will to die- there.

There is a sculpture and a commemorative plaque dedicated to the German philosopher, essayist and literary critic Walter Benjamin, who was born in Berlin to a Jewish family. Considered a master and linked to the Frankfurt school, he died in Portbou in 1940 in strange circumstances. On the one hand it is thought that he committed suicide by overdosing on morphine after crossing the Franco-Spanish border fleeing the Nazis, and on the other hand it is thought that he was killed by Franco's police and even the journalist Stuart Jeffries in his article Did Stalin Killers liquidate Walter Benjamin (The Observer 8 July 2003) claims that he was killed by the Stalinist police. Also in the cemetery, the Freemason cemetery is a must-see.

Church built at the expense of the railway company, on the esplanade of the station. It is not known when it was consecrated, but it must be assumed that it was already consecrated in 1882, because on that date the first vicar was appointed by the bishopric

Going down from the church, in the Plaza Mayor, where there is a stone fountain, dated 1955 and decorated with the town's coat of arms: two bull boats in the harbor and a crown.

Near the church, between Carrer Colera and Carrer Mercat, there is a square decorated with the Font dels Ninots, built in 1922 by J. Albareda and E. Pastoret

It is an ancient corridor tomb, with a trapezoidal chamber

an itinerary that starts at the foot of the stairs that give access to the station and that follows the footsteps of the German philosopher through the town. Antiga Font de França, Panell de la Ramble, Centre Civic, Memorial.

located between cliffs, 500 m north of the town. It faces south, so it is very protected when the strong northerly wind blows. It has a length of 45 m and a width of 10 m, composed of dark pebbles. No services available. Nudism is common there. Its beautiful seabeds make it ideal for diving.