Church of Cristo de la Sangre

Religious | Palma de Mallorca

This is one of the last Gothic churches to be built in Ciutat de Mallorca (Palma), constructed in the late 15th century. It served the General Hospital, and today we know it as the church of the Anunciación or ‘de la Sang’ – a popular name denoting the devotion to the ‘Santo Cristo de la Sangre’ image inside it. The master builder who directed construction on the church was Amador, a famous stonemason who belonged to the Creix family. It is a spacious building with a single nave, very broad, and chapels between buttresses with ribbed vaulting. On the keystones one can see the arms of the city and the hospital itself, as well as those of the Pacs de Cunilleres family and the Tomàs family, important patrons of the building work. Of its medieval past it still retains the Davallament triptych, an early 16th-century work attributed to Joan Desí, and two tables of Saint Peter and Saint Antony, attributable to Gabriel Mòger senior. Also on display are the carvings of a 15th-century nativity scene of Italian origin, from the convent of Jesus, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest and considered to be the oldest in Spain. One can also see two magnificent marble Italian sculptures here. The most famous and popular chapel is that of the ‘Cristo de la Sang’, constituted in 1552 by the Sangre brotherhood. This is where the tabernacle and sculpture of the ‘Cristo de la Sang’ are, the latter in cork oak, lighter than others so that the image can be taken out in processions.