The Lluc Monastery is the spiritual centre of Mallorca. It is also a pilgrimage place for walkers, attracted by the beautiful mountainous scenery with rocky areas and holm oak woods. The monastery lies in Escorca, the municipality which concentrates the highest peaks of the Sierra de Tramuntana. Its construction began in the 17th Century on the site of a prehistoric settlement which, given its etymology, may have regarded the oak woods surrounding it as a sacred place. Lluc comes from 'lucus', meaning wood in Latin. The church houses the statue of the Mare de Déu de Lluc, a black Virgin which was already mentioned in an inventory dating from 1420 and which, according to legend, was found in the middle of the wood by a shepherd. The monastery is the headquarters of the 'Blauets' escolonía (children's choir), the oldest on the island. It also houses a museum, with sections featuring coin collecting, religious images, pottery, interesting prehistoric items and an ethnological collection brought together by the artist Coll Bardolet. Incomparable setting The entrance is through the Plaça dels Peregrins, with beautiful gardens and magnificent porches built at the end of the 16th Century as accommodation and stables. Of special interest is the Ca s'Amitger cross, which dates from 1400 and is the only example remaining of the seven original ones which marked the old path to Lluc. From here, the Modernist style façade, as well as the interior decoration, is an impressive sight because of its size. A street market selling crafts and local products with a guarantee of origin is usually held in this square during the summer months. Within the grounds is a recreational area surrounded by a holm oak wood which is easy to get to. Set up in an old 16th Century country house here is the Centro de Estudios y de Interpretación del Medio Natural de Ca s'Amitger (Ca s'Amitger Centre for Studying and Interpreting the Environment) which organises courses about nature. There is a permanent exhibition, with explanatory leaflets about the centre and the area. One of the most amazing excursions which can be imagined leaves from this monastery and makes its way along the mouth of the Torrente de Pareis, an impressive gorge which leads to Sa Calobra, an incomparably beautiful place.
The current Town Hall dates from 1941. The building was conceived during the Spanish Second Republic (1931–1939) but the Spanish Civil War delayed its construction. Once the war finished, the Falangist authorities sped up the project finally christening the complex and its attached square in 1941. This three-story symmetrical building features an internal courtyard which distributes the floor plan. The basement worked as prison, the first floor as office and the attic was the archive.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the first emigrants that had made their fortunes in the Americas returned to Artà. They were known as Indianos. The return of this new rich collective started a dispute: wealthy classes and newcomers competed to show their economic power through their properties. Indianos imported new building styles from the Americas and Na Batlessa is a good example. This early 20th century building features an independent volume placed on a small podium and surrounded by a balustrade. The main facade forms a big triangular pediment, boasting a beautiful stairway and a balcony on the main floor. The owner of Na Batlessa, Cristòfol Ferrer, donated the complex to the Town Hall in 1984. Thus, the building became a public space hosting a public library, a youth information office and an exhibition space. Na Batlessa also hosts the document bank of famous painter Miquel Barceló and Arta’s local theatre.
House acquired by Miquel Ribas de Pina i Ferrà in 1718, the year when a series of alterations was begun. These included the addition of the columned porch and the wooden eaves. The Gothic windows on the façade were bricked up, and the courtyard was renovated while still retaining the characteristics of 17th century courtyards.
Ancient fort, Moorish in origin, the Palace retains the Gothic features added during the XIV century. It was used as the residence of the Moorish governors and, after the Christian Conquest, by the Kings of Catalonia-Aragón, a custom continued by the present Royal Family on state occasions.
These are two buildings that were designed simultaneously, with an identical composition. They are known as the Casasayas house and the Pensión Menorquina and are separated by a narrow street (C/ Santacília). An overhead adjoining passageway had been designed for this street, but was never built upon the decision of the city council. The two buildings were completed a year apart, their construction taking place between 1908-1910 and 1909-1911. Can Casasayas was designed as an apartment building with commercial premises on the ground floor. The two buildings present similar resolutions, both in terms of their interior layout and in their façades. Both buildings have a ground floor and four upper floors, in which all the bedrooms are located on the façade side, providing perfect lighting for the interior. The treatment of the façades is identical in both cases and is determined by the modernist style, drawing from the Art Nouveau trend. The Gaudí influence, particularly his Casa Batlló, can be seen in the parabolic arches of windows and doorways and in the undulating treatment of the building. The materials used include wrought iron in the balconies, wood in the blinds - these are adapted to the undulating form of the façade, and local sandstone. The decoration may be scarce but it is nevertheless highly original, based on the stylised details of flowers in columns and butterflies (etc.). The initials JCC (Josep Casasayas Casajuana) can be made out in the façade of the building to the right, in reference to the owner and developer. Guillem Reynés oversaw the end of the management of works on the Pensión, after Francesc Roca i Simó moved to Argentina in 1909, where he would design a great number of works influenced by Catalan modernism.
Nowadays it is included inside the urban area of the city, but formerly it was out of the urban nucleus. The peculiar name of this robust crenellated tower of rectangular plan, responds to its crenellated top, which recalls the defensive function that the construction had when it was erected, between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. The function of this defensive enclosure of which only the tower remains was to watch the signals emitted by the coastal watchtowers and thus warn the population against possible invasions. Other notable elements are the semicircular access portal, paved and raised on five steps, two twin windows on the second floor and a quadrangular window with sill on the first floor, to the right of the portal; some buttresses reinforce the structure. The main room, on the second floor, has a rectangular plan. This tower is the only example of a 14th century "tower dwelling" preserved on the island. It is currently a cultural center with rooms for art, painting and photography exhibitions.
The tomb of Ramon Llull is located in the church of San Francisco in Palma de Mallorca. Made by Francesc Sagrera and Joan Llobet in 1487, although it remained unfinished. In the upper part we find the recumbent figure of the blessed, placed in a dejected way, in half relief, placing in its upper part two angels that carry his soul. The lower part was left unfinished, with a series of niches on which to place the sculptures of the liberal arts that we can still reconstruct mentally thanks to the lower corbels. Made of alabaster, it is a fine and delicate carving that contrasts the flamboyant excesses of the leaf litter with forms of extreme and meticulous realism in the sculpture of the protagonist.
Can Bell Esguard, an atypical and singular building, which surprises both for its construction and its history: Contrary to what was common in Sóller, this house was built by order of a French emigrant established in the town at the end of the 19th century. Originally, Can Bell Esguard was a fortified mill, renovated in 1898. The medieval and Mudejar decorative elements stand out, as well as the chrome-plated ceramics and the turrets, for which it is popularly known as Ses Torretes.
Over 15 sites, 9 architectural elements of ethnological interest and examples of typical groups of Balearic flora can be found within a 10-km radius. Among its many other attractions, the municipality of Calvià now offers this 35-hectare archaeological park in the zone of Santa Ponsa. It has various lookout points with magnificent vistas and six kilometres of hiking trails. The rugged and varied landscape reaches its zenith at 119 metres above sea level. The period of occupation corresponding to the archaeological zone runs from 400 BC to 1229, when King James I disembarked in this same area to launch the conquest of the island from the Saracens. Over 15 sites, 9 architectural elements of ethnological interest and examples of typical groups of Balearic flora can be found within a 10-km radius. The Council of Tourism of the Balearic Government, through INESTUR, has collaborated with the City Council to adapt the park for public visits and make it possible to enjoy this natural and culture setting in the municipality of Calvià.
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