La Misericòrdia

La Misericòrdia stands in Palma as a historic architectural complex combining charitable history, cultural spaces, gardens and art. Two large four-storey buildings surround an arcaded courtyard beside a Mediterranean park garden.

Jesuits founded the site in 1565, before the Casa de la Misericòrdia took shape in 1677. The Confraria de la Preciosíssima Sang de Nostre Senyor Jesucrist created it to care for elderly and sick people. During the nineteenth century, the complex served as a poorhouse, with separate entrances for men and women. Joan Suredain designed its place of worship in 1831, while later uses included a hospital, a music conservatory and an archive. Since 1977, the buildings have combined administrative and cultural functions through the Consell Insular de Mallorca. Libraries, including the Biblioteca Lluís Alemany in the Guillem Mesquida room, preserve works about the Balearic Islands. Exhibition rooms present Mallorcan art and themes ranging from archaeology to contemporary practice.

The aljub preserves an older relationship between the complex, rainfall and Arabic water traditions. A wooden walkway crosses above the low waterline, where the columns reflect beneath the reservoir’s ceiling.