Palma, Mallorca - Part 1

Since I already mentioned the extraordinary cathedral in Palma, Mallorca, in my post ‘Barcelona, Spain - Part 3’, I thought I would show you this first, before talking about the other fascinating places in Palma and the Spanish island of Mallorca in general. 

Antoni Gaudi, the Catalan architect who is still famed and celebrated for his unique designs, was brought in as a consultant to the cathedral in the early 1900s. And here he certainly made his mark. First he moved the altar from the busy end of the cathedral, where the priest could barely be seen by the congregation because of all the pillars, to the other end beneath what we were told is the largest rose window in the world.

Gaudi then designed an extraordinary ‘ring’ above the altar from which lamps were suspended. This ring is quite artistic and unique. The other change he made was to convert one of the chapels next to the alter into a celebration of modern art. This work was created by his artist friend who embraced his modernist style. It depicted the natural world in a most artistic, creative way, and included 3-D images of all kinds of sea life and even fruits. So very different to the ornate style of the other works in the cathedral, which were created in the Renaissance and Baroque periods!  

There was more than one rose window in the cathedral. The largest one, however, was so high up it was hard to gauge its size. But we were really fortunate to be at the cathedral at the perfect time. When the sun shone directly through this window, it cast a rainbow of lights through the cathedral. I could not believe what I was seeing! I gather from our guide that other light effects occur at other times of the day, but I was blown away by the magical scenario, which I was lucky enough to capture with my phone camera. 

 

The cathedral from across an artificial waterway. The sea used to reach the wall in front of the cathedral, but since then a huge amount of land has been reclaimed from the sea. 

A closer view from zooming in. This is the side of the cathedral.

The front of the cathedral.

Another view of the front of the cathedral showing a rose window above the entrance. 

This is the very large rose window at the other end of the church, high above the altar.

Looking up to the rose window shown in the 4th photo, and a most unusual lamp.

The organ and one of the ornate gated chapels in the cathedral.

The rainbow effect!

The large rose window when it created the rainbow effect .

The 'ring' of lamps above the altar designed  by Gaudi.

Now practically all the cathedral was lit up!

Another view of the rose window and lamp at the opposite end of the cathedral to the altar. 

The chapel dedicated to modern art.

The view of the cathedral as I stood before the chapel of modern art.

Looking through to Gaudi's ring of lamps from the chapel of modern art.

Some very old floor in front of the channel of modern art.

A closer view of the chapel of modern art.

A celebration of life in the sea, in the chapel.

A celebration of other life, including fruits.