Palau de l'Almudaina

The figure on the highest tower is a weather vane. Its outstretched right arm and finger turn into the wind, once providing useful information for ships in the harbour.

Jaume II commissioned it from Roussillon sculptor Antoni de Camprodon, and it was completed in 1310. The angel holds a trefoil cross in its left hand and wears a shield inscribed “Et Verbum caro factum est”, “And the Word was made flesh”.

Its identity remains debated: either the Archangel Gabriel or the guardian angel who was long Palma’s patron. The tower is named Torre de l’Àngel after it.

Originally made with a wooden core covered in copper sheet, the figure is now entirely metal. It was restored and returned to the tower in 1977.

Remains of Roman fortifications lie beneath the palace. The Moors built their alcázar above them, known as the Zuda at the time of the conquest and serving as the governor’s seat in Madina Mayurqa.

In 1298, Jaume II launched a city-wide building programme, with the palace conversion its largest project. Main work took place between 1309 and 1314, continuing under Sanç and Jaume III until 1343. The model was the palace of Mallorca’s kings in Perpignan, the kingdom’s second capital.

With the independent kingdom’s end in 1349, the palace lost its role as the seat of Mallorca’s kings. Charles V added the upper floor in the first half of the 16th century. Philip II converted the great Tinell hall into the Real Audiencia, the highest court, and installed the islands’ captaincy general elsewhere. The palace became an administrative building for centuries.

Its fabric reveals these layers, with massive, sparsely windowed walls below and loggias and arcades above.

The building has two apartments, Palau del Rei and Palau de la Reina, the King’s Palace and Queen’s Palace.

Between them is Saló del Tinell, the great ceremonial hall, divided horizontally into two storeys in the 16th century.

The Capella de Santa Anna is particularly beautiful, an early-14th-century Gothic chapel. Sculptures on its tympanum, corbels and vault bosses came from Pierre de Guines and the Camprodon workshop, also responsible for the angel.

There are also Arab baths: three small rooms between Torre del Bany and Torre de l’Homenatge, shared by the two apartments. Older than the Christian rebuilding, they continued in use afterwards.

The palace closed from 12 January to late July 2026. Patrimonio Nacional spent €2,573,000 of EU funding renewing the visitor route, displays and lighting, reopening on 29 July 2026.

The route now follows a chronology, from the Roman site through Muslim Madina Mayurqa, the Kingdom of Mallorca, the Crown of Aragón and the Bourbons. It ends in the throne room, furnished as in Alfonso XIII’s time.

The Queen’s Palace is newly open to the general public, with displays about Isabella II’s visit to the Balearics in 1860.

Look closely at three particular objects:

• A 10th-century marble lion, once a fountain spout in the royal gardens and now in the room covering Islamic history.
• A 12th-century bronze tap with a lion’s-head spout.
• The Coronation of the Virgin tympanum from the late 13th century, originally above Santa Anna chapel’s entrance.

Roman coins from Patrimonio Nacional’s collection appear alongside pottery and amphorae on long-term loan from the Museu de Mallorca.

Below the wall, S’Hort del Rei has long water channels and fountains between tall hedges. Admission is free, and it offers some of central Palma’s best shade.

The marble lion now inside the palace came from one of these pools.

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am–7pm from April to September and 10am–6pm from October to March. The ticket office closes an hour earlier. Closed Mondays.

Admission is €8, reduced €5, with a guided tour costing €8 extra, as of August 2026. EU citizens enter free after 3pm on Wednesdays and Sundays, through the ticket office only and without a tour.

German-language tours run Tuesday to Friday at 12.30pm and last an hour. Photography without flash is permitted; tripods and selfie sticks aren’t.

Bus 15 stops at Palau Reial. State occasions can cause short-notice closures, so check Patrimonio Nacional before travelling.

March and October are good choices. In winter, you may have much of the palace to yourself. In high summer, the first hours after opening are quietest. If coming later, finish with the gardens below.