One of the outstanding historic buildings in Palma’s Avenidas is a place commonly known as the Instituto. After the demolition of Palma’s city walls and the subsequent extension of the city’s boundaries around 1909, this building complex was constructed between 1912 and 1916 to house the former Instituto Balear, an educational institution founded in 1836. Actually, it is considered the first centre for education in all of Spain where the Bachillerato could be taken, a qualification similar to the French Bachiller. For almost one hundred years, the Instituto was the only place for higher education in all of Mallorca, soon being chosen by Palma’s liberal citizens and bourgeoisie to send their children to study. After 1936, the Instituto was renamed as Instituto Ramon Llull. The school for Secondary Education is now called IES Ramon Llull, IES standing for Instituto Educació Secundària. It is still considered to be one of the better schools in Mallorca, though it now has some competition.

The building is situated between Sa Riera, the torrente, and the Plaza del Instituto, commonly known as Plaza del Tubo, in reference to a controversial sculpture which was placed there in 1983. Apart from the secondary school, the building complex accommodates in its wing nearest to Sa Riera parts of the Universidad de las Illes Balears (UIB). The wing leading away from the Avenidas, in Plaza del Tubo, houses one of the Bibliotecas Municipales de Palma, as well as, further back, the Escola d’Arts Aplicades i Oficis Artístics (Centre for Applied Arts).

The statue on the reproduction of a postcard (below) is one representing Ramon Llull. This statue has long since been moved to a solitary place in the schoolyard, away from the public eye. I think that is rather a shame.

The photo (top) was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: October 14th, 2010. The time was 14:49:34. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of nosolohd.com and Mike Blueberry.

Muchas gracias.