Category Archives: Monasteries

The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Porciúncula

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The church of Portiuncula in Playa de Palma is really called Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de la Porciúncula. The temple is also known as Iglesia de Cristal (Glass Church).

The church and its monastic annex were built in 1964 and inaugurated in 1968. Originally, the complex was conceived as a seminary to prepare students for priesthood. Somehow, over the years, the Catholic church in Spain and in Mallorca has suffered a set-back, though, and monasteries, convents, monks, nuns and priests in general are now on the decline. I am not sure where the few candidates who nowadays elect clergy as a professional career are being taught; I suppose it might be at the Seminari Nou round the corner from Carrer de Monti-sion in Palma’s old town.

The Portiuncula church is of a circular shape; its main feature are the 39 stained glass windows designed by Juan Bautista Castro, a painter. The visual effects are quite stunning. You should go and have a look. There is also a Museo de la Porciúncula offering archeological titbits, ethnological oddities and a hodgepodge of numismatic items, recommended really only for its odd eccentricity. If you want to have a look at perhaps 300 maggot-eaten Cuban cigars, this is where you will find them, neatly arranged in glass display cases.

Occasionally, concerts are held here and not only of a religious content. The acoustic qualities of the church are quite remarkable. Again, if you would have the opportunity to attend, I feel you might not be disappointed.

The photos were taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 25th, 2012. The time was 18:52:58, 18:21:09 and 18:30:21, respectively.

The Monestir de La Real

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The Monestir de Santa María de La Real just to the North of Palma was founded in 1235 by designation of King Jaume I, the Conquistador. From 1265 to 1274, Ramon Llull lived and worked there, studying Latin, philosophy, theology and the law. Here, he wrote his first books, Compendi de la lògica d’Algatzell and Llibre de Contemplació en Déu. These treaties were written in Arabic and only later translated into Catalan. I understand that both manuscripts form part of the library that Llull bequeathed to La Real. I am not sure if or how one can gain access to the Bibliotequa de La Real, said to be one of the most emminent ones on the island but I am sure one could find out.

I do know, however, that one can gain access to the cloisters of that monastery. Although the convent appears closed at all times, visitors can ring the doorbell and will be admitted for brief visits as long as peace and quiet are respected. You should consider an excursion to this spiritual oasis, not far from where you might reside.

The photos were taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: April 2nd, 2012. The time was 12:57:11 and 13:11:27, respectively.

Pruning the Vines

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Out there in Mallorca’s vineyards, this year’s first young shoots have appeared. The grapes will start to form in May and will grow and ripen over the Summer, before the Vendimia (wine harvest) starts in September.

The care for a field of vines is one of the hardest and most labour intense physical work I have ever come across. The vines have to be pruned and cleaned of last year’s shoots as early as January, before the earth between the rows of vines is ploughed and cultivated in February and possibly once more in March. The vines have to be pruned again in April and perhaps once more, in June. The varieties of grapes will then be evaluated, combined, married, macerated and fermented in the tank, for a maturation period of several months in the barrel, before the wine is bottled. The vino resulting from the shoot in today’s photo will not be ready for consumption for at least one year from now, and in some cases not for another eighteen months or even two years.

Saying this, the first Mallorcan wines of 2011 have just been presented, earlier this week. Last year was a good one for wine here in Mallorca, or so one hears.

One of the more important annual Mallorcan wine gatherings will be held in Pollença tomorrow and Sunday, the Fira del Vi (Pollença Wine Fair), presenting a hundred plus wines from 36 bodegas from the Balearic Islands. This event will take place at the Claustro de Santo Domingo (Convent), a historic venue opposite the Joan March gardens in Pollença, where cultural activities are organized throughout the year such as the Festival de Pollença. This will be an opportunity to try the first wines from last year and more mature wines from 2008, 2009 and 2010 (Saturday, 10h00-20h30, Sunday 10h00-14h00). Don’t drink when you drive, though.

¡Salut!

The photo was taken near Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: April 6th, 2012. The time was 17:30:18.

The Basilica de Sant Francesc

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The Basílica de Sant Francesc is one of the finest church buildings in Mallorca and would probably be the contender for the top spot were it not for the Cathedral.

The church was built in the late 13th century in the Gothic style but later underwent frequent alterations. After lightning struck in the 16th century, its Gothic façade was rebuilt with an impressive Baroque doorway and pediment. Inside, you will find one of Mallorca’s beautiful historical organs created by Jordi Bosch in 1772. There is also the tomb and sepulchre of Ramon Llull, the 13th century mystic.

You can enter the Basilica’s cloisters through the church. They are well worth visiting; you will not find a more peaceful oasis in all of Mallorca. The beautiful claustro has recently been restored. When the church is closed, as it mostly is, you can still enter through the adjoining monastery and its cloisters. The convent is now a secondary school. Admission to the cloisters is 1.50 €, worth every cent.

The photo was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: December 30th, 2011. The time was 15:36:15.

Mallorcan Easter Traditions

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Today, Mallorca celebrates Diumenge des Ram (Palm Sunday), the first day of the dramatic and rather compelling Easter processions, commemorating the entering of Jesus in Jerusalem. Traditionally, on this day, blessed olive branches or dried palm leaves are handed out to the church goers attending the morning mass. This evening, the first of the Easter processions will be held in Palma with the attendance of all the Confrarias (confraternities, or brotherhoods). Last Friday, all of Palma’s Confrarias held their first procession of this year’s Easter proceedings (see photo below), simply manifesting their attendance this year.

Easter processions in Mallorca usually involve hooded cloaks whilst some involve chains, mock flagellation and bare feet. This week, there are also Vía Crucis or Vía Dolorosa (The Bearing of the Cross) processions and theatrical Passion Play performances, Davallaments, Enterraments and vigils.

One of the more vivid Easter processions is the Processó del Silenci (Procesión del Silencio, Silent Procession), held in complete silence and solemnity, with the quietness only broken by a deep and throbbing drumbeat.

Dijous Sant (Jueves Santo, Maundy Thursday) marks the last day of Quaresma (Lent). On this day, the annual Processó de la Sang, the largest of the Easter processions, is held with hundreds of hooded penitents participating, and thousands of believers in utter repentance in Palma. Visually, it is all quite stunning. In the past, a stringent regimen of fasting meant that the eating of sweets or meat was not allowed during Lent. After Viernes Santo (Good Friday), Robiols (sweet pies), Panades (savoury pastries), Crespells (sweet biscuits) and Coques de Patata (see photo above) are prepared for the festive weekend.

The Golgatha celebration (Passion of Christ) in Mallorca is a pageant centred around the Davallament, the story of the Last Supper, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, Jesus’s capture, his crucifixion, the taking off of the cross, the Pietà and, finally, the Enterrament (burial). Davallament performances are usually staged in Felanitx, Artà, Sant Joan and Pollença.

On Easter Sunday, most Mallorcan pueblos and parishes celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the Encontrada between the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus. This is a joyful procession, now without hoods or cloaks, where brass music is played by the Banda de Música and when pigeons are released en masse to celebrate the happy occasion. A Missa Solemne (solemn mass service) is usually celebrated after the Encontrada, concluding the religious part of Easter and Setmana Santa for another year.

Easter Monday is not traditionally a church holiday in Spain, but has acquired holiday status in recent years to allow for the celebration of Pancaritats. In Mallorca, this is a tradition involving citizens convening at monasteries and hermitages to share food with one another and with other, less privileged members of the local community. In Felanitx, a Pujada Solidaria journey on foot is organised up to Sant Salvador, the nearest Puig to Felanitx and the seat of the Santuari de Sant Salvador, the monastery dating from the 15th century.

On the Sunday after Easter, Diumenge de l’Àngel will be celebrated in many Mallorcan pueblos and at Palma’s Castell del Bellver with church services of the more formal kind and with further festive gatherings. More food to be shared between all, no doubt.

A schedule of most of the dates and venues of religious Easter ceremonies in Mallorca can be found on this website.

Happy Easter.

Molts d’anys.

Today’s blog entry is a variation of an article I contributed to a relatively new Mallorca website, discovermallorca.com. Thank you for permitting me the use of some of that information, here.

The photo (top) was taken near Campos, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 5th, 2012. The time was 12:10:56. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es and the photographer, Miquel Massuti.

Muchas gracias.

24 Hours in the Life of an Island

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(near Felanitx, at 00:40:23)

Twenty-eight years ago today, I orchestrated an exciting photo event in Los Angeles, California, in collaboration with one Red Saunders. Together, we edited the book that covered that event: 24 Hours in the Life of Los Angeles. All those years ago, we had assembled a team of 145 people, including 103 photographers from all over the world plus 16 local school children, to capture the life in this metropolis in the run-up to the 1984 Olympic Games.

Today, I have the pleasure to invite you to sample a similar adventure, somewhat different but nonetheless exciting, albeit without its results ending up in a glossy coffee-table book. I endeavour the making of a comprehensive portrait of Mallorca, my home for the last 25 years, by taking photographs over a period of 24 hours in the life of this island. This time, there is no team and there are no other photographers involved or invited. I will upload photos every few hours, depending on broadband connection, and today’s post will grow bigger and longer as the day progresses. The first photo was taken this morning at 00h40 on top of Puig de Sant Salvador near Felanitx, and the last one will be captured just before midnight in Plaça d’Espanya in Felanitx. Let’s see how it goes and let’s witness, if I will last the Tour de Force.

(Portocolom, at 01:28:42)

(Porto Cristo, at 02:03:46)

(Son Servera, at 02:52:00)

(near Canyamel, at 03:10:01)

(Cala Rajada, at 03:32:23)

(Cala Rajada, at 03:43:12)

(Felanitx, at 04:39:18)

I made a scheduled return to Felanitx to upload the first photos of this self-set challenge. Quite unscheduled, I fell asleep and had a 45 minutes nap. I was still good on time and schedule, though.

(near Petra, at 07:41:13)

(near Petra, at 08:00:33)

(Santa Margalida, at 09:24:54)

(Muro, at 10:44:09)

(near Muro, at 11:35:52)

At this time, I was still running to schedule, more or less. But it began to dawn on me that the task I had set might be a bigger one than I had calculated. I may have underestimated the challenge and the sheer distance between places, and I may have overestimated my abilities as a one-man-band. I decided that Mallorca was, in fact, a continent.

(near Muro, at 12:11:55)

(Port de Pollença, at 13:59:13)

(Pollença, at 14:18:33)

By now, it was quite evident that I was running late, and well behind schedule. I decided to alter my route plan. Instead of returning south via Crestatx, Sineu and Sant Joan, I decided to go up into the mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana to see if I could catch up on time by eliminating some of the planned stops.

(near Pollença, at 14:58:40)

(near Sa Calobra, at 15:23:18)

(near Sa Calobra, at 15:25:40)

(near Sa Calobra, at 15:32:31)

(near Sa Calobra, at 15:33:02)

(near Fornalutx, at 15:37:35)

(near Fornalutx, at 15:43:27)

It now was clear: there was no way I could complete the whole island portrait, and comprehensive at that, within the self-elected time frame of 24 hours. For a start, there was no way that I could upload any photos during the course of my parcours. There were just too many kilometres to be driven from point to point. Mallorca is too big an island to be ticked off in one single day by one individual. I realized that I would have needed to employ the good services of a driver to allow me to concentrate on the scene selection and the location, instead of me minding the business of getting there in the first place. And it would have been wise to seek the support of an assistant to keep my back free from the logistics of the task. Me, on my own, doing the driving, route planning, rescheduling, time keeping, scene selection, setting up the tripod, shooting, editing, copy writing, Lightroom-ing, WordPress formatting and what have you, was just too much for one elderly man. And I was getting tired, sleepy, red-eyed, exhausted and anxious. I needed a hug, or a helpline, or something.

(near Sóller, at 15:51:15)

(Sóller, at 16:45:14)

(Sóller, at 17:03:36)

(Sóller, at 17:11:26)

In Sóller, I accepted the inevitability of defeat. It simply was impossible to cover all of Mallorca or at least, all 48 locations that I had scheduled, in one day and on my own. I would barely manage half that number and not even half the total distance. By now I had done some 300 kms, and I would surely need to do the same again, or more, with more than two thirds of the time already gone. I would need to be fitter (and younger), less mad, better equipped, better supported and assisted, and more realistic. I should simply have listened to my wife.

(Alfàbia, at 17:46:32)

(Alfàbia, at 17:54:46)

In Alfàbia I decided to go home. I needed to upload some of my photos and take stock. I might go out again after that to cover some of the Mallorcan hinterland, Porreres, Campos, Llucmajor, Sant Joan, Villafranca, Sineu, Llubi, and so on. For now, I certainly would not be able to cover the western parts of the island, Andratx, Estellencs, Banyalbufar, Valldemossa, Deià, Orient, Alaró, Bunyola; I might have to have another go at the region at some later stage. Palma, I was pretty sure that I would skip Palma for now.

(Felanitx, at 23:43:43)

Having aborted the project and not having gone out again once I arrived back home after 20 hours on the road and in the hot sun, I was busy photo editing, photo optimizing and uploading. I now did not need to do that final shot just before midnight that I had scheduled from earlier this morning. But I wanted to do it anyhow to have a pair of bookends, so to speak. As it happens, I met my friend John and he kindly agreed to pose as another mad hatter for mad me. No. This is not me sitting there, just in case you wondered.

Good night, and thank you for joining me on this ride and this very long day indeed. I need some sleep now.

The Ermita de la Santíssima Trinitat

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It is Martes y Trece today, the Spanish equivalent of Friday the Thirteenth. You may not feel superstitious enough as to indulge in any prevention of ill fate. But you may well feel that now and then you want to get away from it all and leave the hustle and bustle of modern life and its current crisis behind for some peace of mind and quiet and tranquility. I would suggest that you might embark on an excursion to a very special, solemn place up in the Serra de Tramuntana, not far from Valldemossa.

When the hermits of the Ermita de la Santíssima Trinitat (Santísima Trinidad) set up their sanctuary in 1648, also called the Ermita de Valldemossa, there was not a single dwelling nearby other than Miramar, a seminary college set up by Ramon Llull somewhat further north on the way to Deià. Miramar and the precursor to the Ermita de Valldemossa were amongst the earliest monasteries on the island, with the latter one being a hermitic dwelling. The small and cozy oratory church there is dedicated to the Inmaculada Concepción in case you felt like a prayer. Church services can be attended there every Sunday at 17h30.

The hermitage is best appreciated when approached on foot, perhaps as part of a reinvigorating walk or hike from Valldemossa to Miramar. From the Ermita you can enjoy some striking views over part of the western coastline of the Serra de Tramuntana. Along the walk you will be rewarded with plenty of Mallorcan natural landscape at its very best.

The photo (top) was taken near Valldemossa, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 10th, 2012. The time was 17:25:44. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of wikimapia.org.

Thank you very much.

The Cartoixa Verdict

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You must have heard the news about the Chopin wrangle at the Cartoixa de Valldemossa. The owners of cells no. 2 and no. 4 had taken their quandary of the past 50 odd years to the court to have their legal dispute resolved. Cell no. 2 had to move their falsely attributed piano off the premises and cell no. 4 can now claim to be the only authentic accommodation where the Polish-French composer and his beloved accomplice, George Sand and her children, had put their heads down and where the music genius concocted his immortal sonatas.

Well, the news is that you now have the choice at the Cartoixa de Valldemossa to either enter by a side-entrance to go and indulge in a visit to the Chopin Celda No. 4 Museum only and exclusively for a modest 3 € (daily except Sunday, 09h30 to 18h30).

Or you can visit the rest of the former Carthusian monastery, the erstwhile royal Palacio del Rei Sanxo, the disputed Chopin Celda No. 2, the old 18th century Cartuja pharmacy, the Archduke Luis Salvador room, the old priory cell and clerical library, the antique Guasp printing press display, the beautiful church, the palace’s music room and the secluded gardens for a reduced entry fee of 6.50 €, with a 15 minutes live piano recital thrown in of, guess what, Preludes, Sonatas and Polkas by the very same Chopin, but without being allowed to enter his authenticated cell. Got it? No, I didn’t get it either. It is all a bit confusing and terribly insulting to the interested visitor and music lover. Of course you could simply buy two tickets for the then inflated price of 9.50 € and see all of it. No, sir.

My verdict is, sod them. I do not and can not recommend a visit to Mallorca’s tourist attraction number one any longer. The Cartoixa de Valldemossa does not care two hoots about you, the public, and the paying audience. Chopin and his memory are now, 173 years after their ever so fleeting and brief visit, treated with as much contempt and disrespect as they were then. The self-proclaimed Mallorcan guardians of the music genius may have temporarily succeeded in putting their financial interests over and above the historic significance of the estate in Valldemossa. The owners of Celda Nr. 4 may legally be in the right to do what they have done but, believe me, the spirit of the place is now one of derision, ridicule and disrespect. Shame on them.

P. S. The photograph on Wikipedia of the Chopin cell shows cell no. 2 with the now removed, illegal piano which supposedly Chopin never saw or touched.

The photo was taken in Valldemossa, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 10th, 2012. The time was 13:36:32.

The Monastery of Sant Felip Neri in Porreres

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The larger pueblos of Mallorca all seem to have at least two massive big churches, the principal one being the Església Parroquial (Parish Church) and the second one, often as large in size, being the church of the local convent or monastery. Often there is a third or even a fourth church of a smaller size, a chapel perhaps or an oratory, often no longer used on a regular basis.

This arrangement is certainly the case in Porreres where the monastery is dedicated to Sant Felip Neri. I guess that the monastery and its church date from the late 18th century. In the old days, there were six or seven monks living in the large domain, running a school there for the local infants. Only two friars remain nowadays, though. The school has long since been closed down; its premises are used as a general practitioner’s consultancy instead. The monastery’s church, the Oratori de Sant Felip Neri holds regular church services every Sunday at 19h00 in case you should be interested.

Unrelated to this, we celebrate the International Women’s Day today. You better treat your wife/spouse/girlfriend with extra special attention and loving care today.

The photo was taken in Porreres, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 5th, 2012. The time was 15:22:32.

The Església de Jesús-Maria in Sineu

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The Església de Jesús-Maria in Sineu was built between 1793 and 1812, replacing an earlier temple dating from 1667. The church formed part of the convent of the Orde dels Mínims (Latin: Ordo Minimorum, Order of Minims). The adjoining Convent dels Mínims was built in 1693. Property of both, convent and church was expropriated in 1821 by the Spanish Cortes, together with other convents of the Mínims order in Mallorca, such as those in Muro, Campos and Santa Maria. The monks in Sineu were expelled in 1835.

Nowadays, the monastery serves as the seat of the Ajuntament de Sineu. The church next door is not used any longer except for occasional services, on perhaps two or three occasions per year. Above the unadorned church portal a splendid sundial can be seen, dating from 1810, as well as an enormous plaque with an inscription in Latin, dating from 1793. I wish I could decipher the meaning of the inscription. Can you?

The convent as well as the church were declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC), a sort of heritage protection status. You should pay a visit, if you haven’t done so already.

The photo was taken in Sineu, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: December 11th, 2011. The time was 11:44:02.