Palma Cathedral: Mallorca’s Gothic monument to royal power
The conquest of Mallorca by James I of Aragon in 1229 transformed the island’s political and urban landscape. At the heart of this change stood Palma Cathedral, known as La Seu, a monumental sandstone structure conceived as a statement of royal authority. Built to reinforce the Crown of Aragon’s influence in the western Mediterranean, the cathedral became one of the most ambitious Gothic projects of its time, pushing medieval engineering to its limits with some of the tallest vaults in the world.