Qualla: Palma Cathedral

Palma Cathedral: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Marzian, CC BY-SA 4.0. Twice a year, on roughly February 2 and November 11, the morning sun projects the cathedral's eastern rose window onto the opposite wall, creating a kaleidoscope of colored light that aligns precisely beneath the western rose window. Locals call it the "figure eight of light." It is an accident of geometry and latitude, but it feels deliberate -- as if the builders who began this cathedral in 1229, on the site of Majorca's largest mosque, had planned for the sun itself to consecrate their work. La Seu, as Palma Cathedral is known, took four centuries to complete, and it carries the fingerprints of every era that touched it.

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Image: Daniel Marzian | CC BY-SA 4.0

Palma Cathedral: Built on Conquest

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Heuschrecke (Dmitry Tonkonog and Ksenia Fedosova), CC BY-SA 3.0. When King James I of Aragon conquered the city then called Madina Mayurqa from its Almohad rulers in 1229, he immediately reestablished the Diocese of Mallorca and ordered construction to begin on the site of the city's main mosque. Bishop Pere de Morella consecrated the site in ...

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Image: Heuschrecke (Dmitry Tonkonog and Ksenia Fedosova) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Palma Cathedral: A Cathedral of Extremes

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MiguelAlanCS, CC BY-SA 4.0. La Seu is a building of superlatives. Its nave rises 44 meters, making it the eighth-highest church nave in the world. The pillars supporting those vaults are extraordinarily slender -- just one-twelfth the width of the vault span, compared to one-sixth at Reims Cathedral. The ef...

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Image: MiguelAlanCS | CC BY-SA 4.0

Palma Cathedral: Gaudi's Unfinished Vision

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Francesc Herrera (Q20000732), Public domain. In 1903, the young Antoni Gaudi was invited to oversee restoration works. His changes were sweeping and, to many, unwelcome. He removed the choir stalls and rood screen from the center of the nave and relocated them to the presbytery walls, opening up the interior to create a cle...

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Image: Francesc Herrera (Q20000732) | Public domain

Palma Cathedral: Every Style Under One Roof

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Isiwal, CC BY-SA 4.0. Walk along the nave and you walk through the architectural history of Mallorca. Sixteen chapels line the walls, representing nearly every style practiced on the island across seven centuries. The Plateresque Chapel of Sant Jeroni sits near the Churrigueresque Chapel of Our Lady o...

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Image: Isiwal | CC BY-SA 4.0