Palma Cathedral, La Seu, began as a vow. King Jaume I promised to build a church dedicated to Saint Mary if he reached Mallorca safely during the Christian conquest of 1229. He did, and construction began on the site of the city's Great Mosque.
It ran for more than four centuries, producing a Gothic vault that rises 44 metres, the third tallest of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. Twice a year, on February 2nd and November 11th, sunlight passes through the rose window and projects a perfect figure-eight on the opposite wall.
The interior holds further surprises. Gaudí redesigned the presbytery between 1904 and 1914. A chapel holds ceramic work by Miquel Barceló. And inside the rose window, a Star of David is encoded in the tracery.
VoiceMap's tours approach the cathedral from multiple angles, including a Jewish history tour that traces how a pair of silver Torah ornaments, expelled from Sicily in 1493, ended up repurposed as Christian sceptres inside La Seu.
Tours featuring Catedral-Basílica de Santa María de Mallorca (4)