Instead of archaism, which feeds us everywhere with cobblestones in order to excite our sluggish digestion of history, instead of an ingratiating conservatism, Mateo has covered the lanes of Ullastret with a fine stratum, capable of negotiationg irregularities, and yet belonging every bit to our times.
...The atmosphere of Ullastret –that is, the peculiar sense of place- resembles a still life in which all objects appear primarily as representations of themselves. As parts of such a still life, the relics of the past cease to be merely old and instead satisfy our modern desire for the historical.
