living mallorca

This is a very beautiful and monumental part of Palma. You can see the mouth of the river Riera as well as the Baluard de Sant Pere, which is part of the Renaissance Wall of Palma. It dates back to the end of the XVI century, as the old Medieval walls were clearly not strong enough as gunpowder was getting more developed, so new bastions needed to be built in strategic points of the city. The bastion of Sant Pere is one of the biggest ones built in the walls of Palma and used to contain one of the most prestigious artillery schools in the whole of Europe.

After more than 300 years, it ceased to have military use in 1952 and it was sold to private hands a few years later. Private investors projected new homes in the place now occupied by the bastion and therefore they attempted against it using several bombs which brought down parts of the walls. Palma citizens would not tolerate this and united together to fight for the conservation of this historical area, and so the government decided to reconstruct it in 1965 and declared it an important historical and artistic setting. This is why we can still admire it nowadays!

The story gets even better. After falling into decadence, in 1997 the Mayor of Palma cedes this place so that a new Modern and Contemporary Art museum is built within the walls and bastion. Since 2004, we can enjoy the Museu d’es Baluard, as well as a bar which has opened at the top of the bastion and a viewpoint where you can get fantastic views over the old town, the bay and the western district of Palma.