The huge six-meter-long piece of furniture in which Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron sat to discuss the crisis in the east was manufactured in Alcàsser
The most famous table for international negotiations was made in Valencia. Specifically, in a cabinet shop in Alcàsser, whose employees never imagined that it would be the iconic image of the recent meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Moscow. A huge six-meter-long board at whose ends the two leaders stood and which has given rise to numerous jokes on social networks and a few political analyzes about the distance that separates East from West. The symbol of diplomacy in pre-war times is a luxurious table.
“You can’t imagine the suffering that table was for me.” In statements to ‘Nius’, its creator, a popular carpenter from the region named Vicente, recalls the “strict instructions” of the Kremlin to manufacture this and other pieces intended to enhance the image of the Russian Government dependencies. At the time there was speculation about its antiquity or if it comes from the time of the ancient tsars. But not. It is part of the commissions made by Moscow between 2005 and 2010 to this joinery, which convinced Moscow leaders during a Furniture Fair in Valencia after prior contact through an international intermediary. “We did a lot of things for them,” says the person in charge.
And it is not at all strange. For decades, the eastern country has shown a predilection for the craftsmanship and quality of Spanish furniture. A decade ago, Russia was the fifth largest market in our country in this sector and there are classic and neoclassical tables, sideboards, cabinets and beds made by Spanish professionals distributed in mansions in Moscow, Sochi and Saint Petersburg. Putin has several rooms in his two residences; also in his office in the Kremlin. And the Valencian tables decorate the headquarters of the Supreme Court, the Parliament or the Muscovite City Hall. In some cases, this type of furniture used in receptions and high-level meetings replaces the originals from the time of the Romanovs, authentic works of art to be preserved by the Russian Heritage. The Kremlin even sent an Antonov to Valencia airport on one occasion to pick up a shipment of urgent furniture destined for the institutions of that country, according to an article by Jorge Mestre in the publication ‘Russia Beyond the Headlines’.
other rulers
The feel of the tables made in Alcàsser has been perceived by other international governments: the members of the BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, an institutional association that started up almost two decades ago to promote trade between the five major emerging economies of the moment. The organization is based in the Kremlin and is based on the population, area, natural resources and GDP growth of its five partners. Its importance is no longer the same, it has declined in the last five years due to the drop in its projections and the emergence of China on the world trade scene. Still, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is meeting this week with Putin under the umbrella of the BRICS to discuss new ties in the commodity market. Bolsonaro is one of the few international visitors who enter the presidential zone of the Kremlin to talk about matters unrelated to the Ukrainian crisis, but he may sit at a Spanish table.
Why this fondness of the Russian leader for tables that look more like trampolines, as he has shown in his last televised appearance with his Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, where there was a notable distance between the two? After the recent meeting with Emmanuel Macron, political theses proliferated. The simplest and most direct thing was to think that the two leaders were thus staging the distance between their positions regarding the conflict in Ukraine. But it is also possible to think that this reading seems somewhat primitive in a pre-war crisis and would be more typical of a meeting between Jerry Lewis and Dick van Dyke in an American comedy.
The second version pointed to a demonstration of Putin’s power over the French president, in the style of ‘The Great Dictator’. The reality is different: the Russian president has been observing rigorous anticovid guidelines for two years and Macron had declined to undergo a PCR, as suggested, before sitting down for the meeting. So the safety distance was strictly applied. During the confinements, the Russian leader has been so severe as to demand daily tests from the collaborators with whom he had to see on a daily basis.
Walking through the Kremlin
Valencian manufacturers know by heart what the Kremlin is like, since, according to ‘Nius’, the contracts included furnishing the official reception house of the Russian Government, a beautiful 19th-century mansion. “There came a time when my son, who was the one who went to review the montage, was already walking around the Kremlin as if he were at home,” explains Vicente. For the large negotiating table, which was to reflect the Russian style, his company used beech wood and Italian gold leaf. The wood was moved from the Alps, from trees grown in the shade. Both this and other pieces of furniture were required to be lacquered in white.
White and gold are the two main tones of the Grand Palace and even the emblem of its spectacular neoclassical façade. The presidential complex gathers other palaces inside, occupies 25,000 square meters of surface and consists of 700 rooms. An immense artistic and architectural conglomerate where the meeting of Russian and Arabic styles is perceived. Its origin dates back to the beginning of the 19th century, when Tsar Nicholas I wanted to have a residence in Moscow – then the capital was in Saint Petersburg – to make his presence clear to the people. Today it houses the seat of the Government, its endless administrative sections and the main area for major events and the reception of foreign guests. There occupies a special place, and undoubtedly voluminous, the Alcàsser table. When he finished it and sent it to Russia, Vicente assures that he rested.
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