On a walk through Palma, one can meet some wonderful sights. Palma is an incredibly beautiful city, not least for the fact that the city has preserved its character over the centuries, never suffering much aggression or major destruction. There are many beautiful buildings in architectural styles ranging from Gothic to Renaissance and Modernism, wide Avenidas and narrow streets, luscious parks and gardens, the majestic seafront, the skyline with towers, Miradors and turrets, the stunning Cathedral, the imposing Castell del Bellver.

Once you raise your eyes a bit higher, the sights get more wondrous. Suddenly, you might find Moorish heads, sphinxes, crocodiles, lions or dragons, the latter ones sculpted as gargoyles to divert the flow of rainwater from the gutter and away from the buildings’ walls.

The gargoyle shown in today’s picture is part of a set of newly cleaned, marvelous gargoyles at the Lonja de los Mercaderes, the Mediaeval stock exchange, when traded stock actually meant goods or merchandise such as gold, silk, spices, cotton, coffee, silver, you name it. The Lonja (Catalan: Llotja) is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture in Mallorca. It was built by Guillem Sagrera between 1420 and 1452. For some time, Sagrera also worked at Palma’s Cathedral, where you can find similar grotesquely carved animal bodies and fantasy figures, also acting as water spouts.

Next time you are in Palma, have a look up above.

The photo was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 1st, 2011. The time was 15:25:34.