Visits to Palma Cathedral

Right beneath the cathedral is the Parc de la Mar, which borders the city wall. | Pixelio

MDB DigitalJonás MartinyPalma de Mallorca10/01/2025 13:58

While tourists flock to the Parc de la Mar in front of Palma Cathedral daily during the summer months, by mid-December, the area is much quieter. The Parc de la Mar, located just below the city walls and the cathedral, was inaugurated 40 years ago. It is Palma’s third-largest green space, following the Municipal Forest of Bellver and Sa Riera Park.

Thanks to the car park adjacent to the park and the nearby bus stops, this spot marks the start of many holidaymakers’ must-see visit to Palma. Nowhere else offers a better view of the old town ensemble, including the Almudaina Palace, the cathedral, and the Episcopal Palace. It’s arguably one of the most photographed panoramic views in Mallorca.

And all of this is thanks to a radical urban planning decision: the construction of the motorway connecting the old town to the airport, completed in 1960. Originally, the sea reached almost up to the city walls. Palma Cathedral reflected beautifully in the water—a unique view and an identity-defining feature. The importance of this to Mallorcans became evident in the 1970s when it was decided how the space created by the motorway should be used. At first, the city council proposed converting the area at the foot of what is arguably Mallorca’s most important monument into a massive car park—and that’s exactly what happened.

However, the late Francoist regime in Mallorca hadn’t anticipated the fierce resistance from part of the population. A protest movement emerged, unlike anything the island had seen during the dictatorship. Eventually, the citizens succeeded in forcing the regime to back down. A new call for proposals was issued, which was won by the architectural group "Zócalo." The centrepiece of their proposal was the creation of an artificial lake in the middle of the park to preserve the reflection of the cathedral in the water.

“This has been a true hallmark of our city for centuries,” the original project description reads. The motorway construction and the corresponding infill separating it from the city walls destroyed this vital feature. The architects’ vision was for the sea to “reclaim part of its former domain, penetrating beneath the road to the walls that have long resisted it.”

Today, the artificial lake remains the centrepiece of the Parc de la Mar, although the envisioned connection to the sea was never carried through. To this day, a temporary pumping system regulates the lake’s water level.