SEASIDE NEIGHBOURHOOD

One of the main buildings of this picturesque neighbourhood is Es Baluard, an old bastion and nowadays the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of Palma. This bastion is part of the renaissance wall, dated in the 16th. It was built by Giovanni Battista Calvi. Until 1952 it was a military area, and a few years later passed into private ownership. The new owners planned to construct buildings throughout the whole area. However, thanks to people’s pressure that bastion became a historical and artistic site in 1965.

Another indispensable monument is the Lonja, the Headquarter of the merchant’s guild, one of the most powerful groups of the city. The architect was Guillem Sagrera. It is a Gothic building of the 15th century, one of the most spectacular of the island.

Besides, it was the Consolat de Mar, the Royal Consulate of the Sea and the Land. It was a medieval organisation, that made the trade laws, manage the sea business and where all the issues between merchants and buyers were solved. Since 1983, it is the Headquarter of the Government of the Balearic Islands, run by Francina Armengol (PSIB-PSOE). And the famous alfondecs inns and guesthouses where merchants from everywhere could sleep, eat, rest and use them as a warehouse, trade centre or shop.

It was a district full of life and splendour, but it broke down into the economic and financial crisis, and step by step, it got abandoned and deteriorated. It became a marginal area of the capital until the beginning of the 21st Century when gradually this district has reborn again.