Can Sabater-Llorenç Villalonga house

Museums | Binissalem

Llorenç Villalonga was one of the most important Mallorcan intellectuals in the 20th Century. It is to the life and works of this literary figure that the museum in Binissalem bearing his name is dedicated. Llorenç Villalonga (Palma 1897-1980) studied medicine, but from early on his passion was literature. In 1924 he began to collaborate with the local newspaper El Día and in 1931 he published his new novel, Mort de dama, a huge success in those years. Many European artists came to Mallorca in that decade in search of refuge and because of them the island became an important focus of intellectual resistance. Llorenç Villalonga was in contact with them and attended social gatherings and events where he steeped himself in the new ideas that were stirring Europe. He lived in his house which has since been converted into a museum throughout the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and then later he spent the summer months there. The house, known as Can Sabater, was built in the 15th Century although it has been extended and renovated on several occasions. The same furniture has been preserved in his study The house been preserved by and large as it was with the same furniture that he used in his study and the original kitchen on the ground floor. It has an extensive garden with a well in the centre, a cellar and a wine press. The first floor has a permanent exhibition of the life, thought and works of the author. His production was very diverse: he published five books of stories, five volumes of theatre, more than 1.500 articles in the press and fifteen novels among which Bearn (1961) and the futuristic Andrea Vítrix (1974) are best known. Photographs, personal objects, letters, manuscripts, post cards, books, press articles and videos all found their way into the world of this eminent intellectual. The centre also has a library of more than a thousand volumes with a consulting room for researchers. Numerous activities and cultural competitions are organised here throughout the year among them the Premio Casa Museu Llorenç Villalonga, a prize for unedited texts in Catalan.