Santa Eulàlia

Santa Eulàlia stands in Palma as a Gothic parish church, built in the early thirteenth century after the Catalan conquest of Mallorca. It occupies the site of a former Muslim mosque. Three naves rise behind terraces, buttresses, flying buttresses, and gargoyles shaped as dragons, harpies, and basilisk creatures. The nineteenth-century bell tower ends in a pointed cap above the surrounding rooftops. A neo-Gothic façade frames a pointed portal and an older rose window, while painted tympanums show the Annunciation and Epiphany.

The church entered Mallorca’s political history when the General Council swore loyalty here in 1256. Jaume II received the crown of Mallorca inside these walls in 1276. Ribbed vaults rest on eighteen octagonal columns, creating a strong vertical Gothic interior. Seven ambulatory chapels surround a baroque altar by the Dominican friar Albert de Burgunyó. The eighteenth-century organ, Gothic paintings, and chapels dedicated to Saint Catherine, Saint Louis, and the Pietà add layers to the space. Jules Verne also placed a scene from Clovis Dardentor here, where its protagonist bursts in during a service.