Page 60 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Mallorca, Menorca & Ibiza

58  THE BALEARIC ISLANDS AREA B Y AREA P ALM A  59

P Plaça del Marquès P Es Baluard around a large courtyard, adjoins
de Palmer Museu d’Art Modern the city walls. Its façade was
This square lies at the end of i Contemporani completed in 1616.
Carrer Colom – a shopping street Plaça Porta de Santa Several rooms of the palace
running from Plaça Cort, the site Catalina. Open 10am– have been given over to the
of the Ajuntament (Town Hall). It 8pm Tue–Sat (to 3pm Sun) charming Museu Diocesà
features a five-storey Modernista Closed 1 Jan & 25 Dec. & (Diocese Museum). The
apartment building, Can Rei Es Baluard is housed museum displays items from
(20th century). Equally interesting in a modern building various churches in Mallorca,
is the nearby building, L’Aguila. of concrete and glass, including a wonderful selection
completely and of medieval religious paintings.
P Plaça Major beautifully integrated Particularly noteworthy are: a
This pedestrianized 19th-century in the Sant Pere picture of St George slaying
square has a number of souvenir bastion (baluard in the dragon in front of Palma’s
shops and lively cafés. Many of Catalan) that was part Monastery courtyard of Basilica de Sant Francesc city gate, painted in 1468–70
the square’s restaurants have of the Renaissance by Pere Nisart; Bishop Galiana’s
outdoor tables under its arcades. wall surrounding R Basilíca de Sant Francesc P Banys Àrabs panel depicting the life of
The centre of the square is the city of Palma. It Plaça Sant Francesc. Open 9:30am– Carrer Can Serra 7. Tel 637 046 534. St Paul (who is portrayed
given over to stalls that sell a has a wide-ranging 12:30pm & 3:10–6pm Mon–Sat, Open 9am–7:30pm daily (to 6pm holding a sword) and the
wide variety of handicrafts. collection of works by 9am–12:30pm Sun. & Dec–Mar). & Gothic pulpit in a Mudéjar
There’s also a stage that is prominent artists who The building of the Gothic The brick 10th­century hammam (Spanish­Moorish) style. There
frequently used by musicians and have converged on church and Franciscan mon­ (bathhouse) is one of the few is also the jasper sarcophagus
jugglers who entertain crowds. these islands from the astery started in 1281 and architectural reminders of a of Jaume II, which stood in the
The porticoed square was Oriel window of Can Rei, Plaça del Marquès de Palmer beginning of the 20th lasted 100 years. During the Moorish presence on cathedral until 1904.
laid out in 1823 following the century. The works Middle Ages, this was Palma’s the islands. A small
demolition of the headquarters 19th century involved adding of Catalans Santiago Rusiñol, most fashionable church and horseshoe­arched + City Walls
of the Inquisition. The new the belfry and remodelling the Joaquín Mir and Joaquín Sorolla to be buried here was a major chamber, with a dome The Renaissance city
square became the main central nave. The aisle chapels are displayed, while Joan Miró status symbol. Aristocratic supported by irregular walls were built on the
food market until the 1950s. feature magnificent original and Pablo Picasso have exclu- families competed with each columns and what site of earlier medieval
A large under ground shopping Gothic paintings, and there is sive rooms dedicated to their other by building ever more would once have been walls. This restored
centre and car park have since a splendid Baroque altarpiece. works. Contemporary artists ostentatious side chapels in underfloor heating, it section once included
been added. The most precious relic in the are led by the well-known which to place their dead. has survived in its a gallery running along
church is the crucifix kept in Mallorcan Miquel Barceló, who The church was remodelled original form. There’s the top, from where the
R Santa Eulàlia Capella de Sant Crist. Jaume I also painted one of the chapels in the 17th century after being not a lot to see, but the city’s defenders could
Plaça Santa Eulàlia. Open 8am– is supposed to have carried of the Palma Cathedral and the damaged by lightning. Its severe pleasant garden has fire at besieging
12:30pm & 5:20–8:30pm Mon–Fri this when he conquered dome at the UN headquarters façade, with giant rose window, tables where you Sundial from Palau enemies. Progress in
8am–12:30pm Sat (Sunday Mass). Mallorca in 1229. in Geneva. was embellished around 1680 can sit and rest. Episcopal artillery design meant
The vast Gothic church standing Another dramatic event is with a Baroque doorway, decor­ that the fortifications
at the end of Carrer Morey was associated with this church. In P Palau March ated with stone statues and the P Palau Episcopal and became lower and thicker.
built on the site of a mosque in 1435, it was the site of a mass Palau Reial 18, 07001. Open Nov–Mar: Triumphant Virgin Mary in Museu Diocesà Work on remodelling the walls
the 13th century on the orders baptism of Jews, who converted 10am–6:30pm (to 2pm Sat). & the tympanum. Next to the Carrer Mirador 5. Open 10am–2pm began in the mid­16th century,
of Jaume II. It was completed in to Christianity in order to escape An exhibition space, an Madonna is the carved figure Mon–Sat. Closed Sun. & but the bastions were only
just 25 years. Renovations in the being burned at the stake. auditorium and a library, Palau of the famous medieval mystic Just behind the cathedral, the completed in the early 19th
March was built in the 1940s as Ramón Llull (see p91), who is Palau Episcopal (Bishop’s Palace) century. Today, Palma’s city
the family residence of financier buried in the church. is mostly 17th century, though walls feature a walkway that
Juan March Ordinas. Today, it The dark interior (its Gothic work began in 1238, initiated provides a wide view over
houses an excellent collection windows have been partially by Bishop Ramon de Torell. Badia de Palma, the cathedral
of modern and contemporary bricked up) contains many fine The palace, which is built and the Old Town.
sculpture, as well as more than works of art, which are mainly
2,000 pieces of 18th-century Baroque in style. Particularly
Neapolitan nativity crib figures. eye­catching (if you can see
Spectacular but controversial in the dimness) are the vast
murals by Josep M Sert adorn altarpiece, dating from 1739,
the dome ceiling over the main and the organ. The delightful
staircase and the music room. Gothic cloisters, planted with
orange and lemon trees, offer
P Casa Olesa light relief.
Carrer Morey 25. Standing in front of the
Built in the mid-16th century, basilica is a statue of Junipero
this Renaissance residence is Serra (see p81), a Franciscan
one of Palma’s most beautiful. monk and native of Mallorca,
The house is private but you who was sent to California in
can admire its courtyard through 1768 and founded Los Angeles
Plaça Mayor, the main town square, with live entertainment the wrought-iron gate. and San Francisco. Restored city walls in Palma’s old town
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp148–150 and pp155–9

058-059_EW_Mallorca.indd 58 06/10/17 11:08 am 058-059_EW_Mallorca.indd 59 06/10/17 11:08 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.4)
Date 25th April 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm