San Francisco

After the Catalan conquest, the Franciscan congregation arrived in Palma.
This congregation, after several moves, were finally installed at the convent of San Francisco. The supposed beginning of the works of the magnificent architectonic ensemble was in 1286. The result would be the proof of the great religious, cultural and social influence of this congregation.

The exterior part of the building is not the original one, because the Gothic façade was struck by a lightning in 1580. The phenomenon also affected the inside of the building. In 1618 the first nave of the original church was eliminated and a new façade was built.
This one was not finished until 1700, and other later remodelling, until the middle of the XIX century. The result is the present façade which now we can admire. It is presided overby the sculptures of Santo Domingo and San Francisco.

The interior is a huge Gothic area, distributed in just one nave with lateral chapels, and its altarpiece is polyapse with an ambulatory.
The structure has groined vaults supported by pointed pillars. In one of the chapels is the tomb of Ramon Llull.
The trapezoidal cloister is next to the church. The foiled arches form a unique area in the city centre.
You can visit the cloister and you can check all the remodelling done for centuries in the arches What was the old convent, it is nowadays divided in different sections: a church, school and cultural centre.