The Museu de Mallorca is a national museum and as such comes under the responsibility of the Directorio de Museos y Colecciones de España, a department of the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, a ministry of the Gobierno de España, the Spanish Government.
The museum in Palma is in a 16th century mansion popularly known as Casa de la Gran Cristiana, not far from the bishop’s palace, somewhere behind the Cathedral. Don’t go there because you will find that the place is closed for the public and access has been unavailable for five years now. You could say that the place is dead as a dodo, totally unrelated to the current economic crisis. You would think that instead one could at least consult the website of the museum and would find information there. But no, that one is dead as well. None of the site’s links function, with only one exception. The last update was made in 2006, it seems.
You would normally find some interesting archaeological finds at the Museu de Mallorca, pertaining to the island’s Talayotic period, the Roman era as well as the Islamic phase and the Mediaeval history. The museum normally also houses some fine art from the 15th to the 20th century, plus a collection of books and documents.
If you have followed events on this MDPB you might be aware that some museum pieces are now on temporary display at the Centre de Cultura SA NOSTRA, in Calle Concepción. That one is well worth a visit but, if you have ever been to the Museu de Mallorca, don’t expect to find more than a mere fragment of its exhibits at the SA NOSTRA exhibition.
The Museu de Mallorca has a secondary building in Muro: an ethnological section, where some of the every-day-objects on display relate to Mallorca before the age of tourism. There is a further museum branch in Alcúdia: a Roman archaeology section, known as the Museu Monogràfic de Pollença, showing remnants found at the Roman city of Pollentia. I would recommend visits to those museum offshoots as well, should you be in the area and should you be so inclined.
The photos were chosen from my archive. They were taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 18th, 2004. The time was 13:34:43 and 13:28:42, respectively.