Palma Cathedral

1229

The cathedral was begun on the site of the largest mosque in 1229

The city was conquered from its Almohad Muslim rulers in 1229, and King James I immediately re-established the Diocese of Mallorca. Works began on the site of the city's largest mosque, which was consecrated in 1230. The earliest surviving part, the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, was completed in 1327.

The window

Its rose window is the second-largest Gothic rose window

The east rose window has a diameter of nearly 14 metres and is the second-largest Gothic rose window in the world, after Strasbourg's. The nave height of 40 metres is the 8th-highest in the world, and the pillars are the narrowest in the world relative to the size of the vault.

14 mthe diameter of the rose window, nearly

Gaudí

Gaudí reworked the interior from 1903 and left in 1914

Antoni Gaudí was invited to oversee restoration in 1903. The choir stalls and screen were moved from the centre of the nave to the side walls of the presbytery, and he designed a large canopy to hang above the altar. He and his collaborators ceased work in 1914 due to disputes with the local authorities.

Barceló

A 21st-century chapel was designed to evoke the bottom of the sea

Between 2001 and 2006 the Mallorcan artist Miquel Barceló renovated the Chapel of Sant Pere. He covered the entire apse in Italian ceramic and replaced the stained glass with grisaille glass meant to evoke the bottom of the sea. The project met with strong criticism but was finished with the support of the bishop.

The front

The west front was rebuilt in the 19th century because of structural problems

The bell tower was completed in 1498, around the time the naves and their vaults were finished. The west front originally had a flat top. In the mid-19th century, because of structural issues, it received a neo-Gothic renovation that gave the facade its current gable.