By Porter Lang
Start with the beach. At Águilas, in Murcia, a beach is named Playa de los Cocedores, after a practice of “cooking” esparto grass by leaving it to dry in the sun. That is how Murcia Today tells it. A fibre once so central to the town that it left its name on the shore is now mostly shown in museums.
Two museums, one fibre
Murcia Today describes two small museums. The Museo y Centro de Difusión del Esparto in Águilas opened in December 2019 in the Molino de Sagrera windmill, in the old town. The Museo del Esparto in Archena occupies the ground floor of the Palacete de Villa Rías, in the Villa Rías public gardens. The Archena museum was started by one enthusiast, who works with esparto himself. We do not name him.
What the grass was used for
Both articles list the same products. Esparto was woven into baskets and footwear and twisted into rope and twine, among other household goods. The Archena article says its natural waxiness suited it to basketry and sandals. The Águilas article adds that these goods were replaced by synthetic materials. The Archena article says the craft has practically died out and is now used almost solely for decoration.
Homo Faber, a European craft platform, describes a workshop in Úbeda that uses esparto along with pita fibre and sisal for rugs, mats, baskets, wide-brimmed hats, jewellery and espadrilles. It says the Úbeda rug, the ubedí, dates from the eleventh century, and that its traditional patterns are filigree and arabesque. It also says weaving esparto can hurt the hands, and that years of work pass before a weaver gains mastery or financial stability. We do not name the weaver.
A very old trade
The two museum articles give different spans. Archena’s says Phoenician traders exchanged goods for esparto nearly 3,000 years ago and that the Romans later exported it across their empire for ropes, footwear and equipment. Águilas’s says Phoenicians and Romans traded in esparto over 2,000 years ago across the Mediterranean. The two are not in conflict if “over 2,000” includes “nearly 3,000”, but they are different claims, and we attribute each to its article. Homo Faber says only that the local tradition goes back thousands of years.
Esparto in the economy
The Archena article says esparto was the second most important sector of the local economy, after agriculture, until industrial production arrived. The Águilas article says esparto was one of the pillars of the town’s economy for centuries, but that in the nineteenth century the town’s growth shifted to mining and the railway, which reduced esparto’s weight.
Our reading is that the two towns tell the same story from different ends. In one, a fibre was a main earner and then a hobby. In the other, it gave way to mines and trains. Both articles say synthetic and industrial products took over.
What the sources do not say
None of the sources we read describes how the grass is cut, soaked or plaited, or when it is harvested. The only processing step named is the sun-drying at Águilas that gave the beach its name. We have not filled the gap with general knowledge, and we do not describe the weaving.
The Archena article does say one thing about the museum’s maker. He makes an esparto costume for the town’s carnival parade each year and spends hundreds of hours on it. We take that as a sign that the craft survives as a pastime and a performance, which is our reading and not the article’s.
What the museums show
The Águilas collection, per Murcia Today, covers finished goods, the weaving techniques of the craftsmen called esparteros, and carnival costumes with an esparto base, in particular the costume of the Mussona. The Archena museum shows baskets and satchels, farm tools, small-scale models of local buildings, nativity scenes and other pieces, including an esparto bikini. The article says nothing in the museum is for sale.
We have not checked the current opening hours of either museum. The Archena article gave hours, and we have not repeated them since they may have changed.
A word on the sources
Both museum articles come from an English-language regional news site, not from the museums themselves, and the Homo Faber page is a platform’s profile of one workshop. Neither cites a source for the historical claims, so we treat the dates as local tradition. Úbeda is covered in an earlier .es pack, and here it appears only for its rug.
A craft with an uncertain future
Homo Faber says that plastics and synthetics once threatened esparto weaving, and that modern weavers research new dyes and blends while keeping traditional methods. It describes work with fashion designers. We have no sourced figure for how many weavers work today, and we do not offer one.
What it means for a visit
Our reading is that esparto is easiest to understand from the objects: a sandal, a rope, a basket, each made from one plant by hand. If you visit Águilas or Archena, go for the museums and ask a local guide about the fibre. Check whether either museum is open before you travel.
If you buy an esparto piece, our view is that the thing to ask is who made it and what it is made from. A maker who works with the fibre will know whether it is plain esparto or mixed with another fibre. The Úbeda workshop’s own list shows that mixing is normal.
Where sources differ, we show each: the age of the esparto trade (nearly 3,000 or over 2,000 years), and the museums’ accounts of the town economy.
Roam first. Shop later.