Read aloud by your device's voice. It sounds different on each device.
Round
It is one of the few circular castles in Europe
Bellver Castle is a Gothic-style castle on a hill 3 km west of the centre of Palma. It was built in the 14th century for King James II of Majorca and is one of the few circular castles in Europe. Its circular shape is unique in Mallorca.
The build
The hill itself was quarried for the walls, and cracks followed
Part of the fortification was built by the architect Pere Salvà, who also worked on the Royal Palace of La Almudaina, with other master masons between 1300 and 1311. Rock from the hill where the castle sits was used for the building, which eventually led to the appearance of cracks.
Sieges
It survived two sieges and fell only once, in 1521
As a fortification the castle suffered and successfully resisted two sieges during the Middle Ages, the first in 1343 and the second in 1391. It has fallen into enemy hands only once, in 1521, after an assault during the Majorcan second Revolt of the Brotherhoods.
A museum
The Republic gave it to the city in 1931, and it opened as a museum in 1932
In 1931 the Spanish Second Republic gave the castle to the city of Palma, along with the surrounding forest. It became a museum in 1932 and was restored in 1976 to become the city's History Museum. On the Sunday after Easter Sunday, citizens gather at the forest and castle for the Diumenge de l'Àngel.
A prison
For centuries it held prisoners, among them two men later shot
From the 18th to the mid-20th century the castle was a military prison. It held political prisoners, the most famous being the minister Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, from 1802 to 1808. In the 20th century it held republican and Catalanist leaders, among them Alexandre Jaume and the mayor Emili Darder, both later shot.
Day 6, morning
Next is Parc de la Mar.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Bellver Castle, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.