There was life on the island even before the big tourist boom changed Mallorca forever. The history of architecture on the island is a good gauge for the periods of prosperity and affluence in the Mallorcan society. Churches and monasteries are testimony of rank and competence during the last five hundred years, just as harbour installations and lighthouses are evidence of the importance of seafaring and fishing over the last three hundred years. More recently, we find factories and industrial landmarks giving statement to the significance of large manufacturing industries some hundred or hundred and fifty years ago. In Sóller, there were eleven large textile factories spinning cloths by the thousands or yards, whilst in Felanitx, there were massive wine-producing cooperatives brewing wine and related beverages in large quantities on an industrial level (photo top). In Pollença, there is the once beautiful building of Can Morató, an erstwhile carpet factory (photo centre), now in a deplorable state.

In Palma, look at the Escorxador complex as a testimony for the importance of animal slaughtering (photo bottom). Over the last fifty years or so, the true source of the island’s most recent period of milk and honey was evidenced by hotel buildings and other installations serving the massive tourist boom, such as the new Palma airport..

The photo (top) was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: December 29th, 2012. The time was 13:03:49. The photo (centre) was taken in Pollença, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 30th, 2012. The time was 14:24:05. The photo (bottom) was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 7th, 2012. The time was 17:51:32.