La Puresa

Description

The building (also known as Ca´n Clapes or Ca´n Desclapers) has been subject to thorough refurbishment works, but still maintains the gothic arch in the entrance and the square inner courtyard, where we can see an image of Mare de Déu. This portrait used to be part of the Sant Domingo convent in Palma. In the second patio, to the right, we find several segmental arches and a sculpture featuring Mother Alberta, as well as a second portal that connects to the Pont i Vic street. To the left, a chapel; the presbytery has an altar and a neo-baroque altarpiece, presenting the image of the Virgin Mary, a work by Font Martorell. To the left, Mother Alberta's sepulchre chapel, featuring a portrait by Ferran Sancho de la Jordana. An altarpiece in Mannerist style represents the Calvary. A different chapel homes the Cor de Jesús and the sepulchre of the Schoolchildren (1842-65). A further room, has a lowered ceiling decorated with images, such as of Cardinal Reig. Other rooms in the building home the gym, the refectory, the kitchen and, on the first floor, an old classroom and the cells or bedrooms.

Historic Reference

The old building homes the Puresa school that, since the XVIth century, was owned by the Desclapés family. In the year 1814, the house was inherited by Francesc Rossinyol de Sagranada i Desclapers, who sold it to the bishop Bernat Nadal. He was the one to develop the house as a school for girls of the Puresa de Maria Santíssima (founded in 1809), that was restructured by Gaietana Alberta Giménez, Mother Alberta in the year 1870.

Reference:

-Murray-Pascual, 1999, p. 53-54

-GEM, XIV, 103

-Patis de Palma: Ajuntament de Palma-Baltar & Associats, 2002, p. 57.

-Valero, 2004, p. 66

Catalogue of the Town Hall of Palma, 2005.