Santa Clara

Santa Clara is a convent in central Palma, Mallorca, founded in the thirteenth century by Poor Clare nuns from Tarragona. Its walls rise above remains from the Andalusian period, while later additions reveal Gothic, post-Renaissance, and Baroque influence. The community began here after Pope Alexander IV authorised a new monastery in 1256. Nuns arrived on 13 January 1260, settling on donated land with support from Franciscan friars.

The seventeenth-century church contains four rectangular chapels on the left and varied chapels with barrel vaults on the right. A sixteenth-century chapter house and Gothic tombs of former abbesses line the cloister corridors. The façade carries a three-section square bell tower and a 1671 doorway with plant, ear, and mask motifs. Above the doorway, a broken pediment frames a medallion showing Saint Clare.

The altarpiece places the Immaculate Conception above Saint Clare of Assisi, while the preserved papal enclosure recalls convent life. Junípero Serra preached four lessons of the Seraphic School from the surviving pulpit in 1744. Local sweets and tablecloths made with flame-patterned Mallorcan telas de lenguas connect religious tradition with island craftsmanship. Recognised as cultural heritage in Palma and the Balearic Islands, the convent holds centuries of worship, rebuilding, and skilled work.