Basilica de Sant Francesc

Description

Basilica de Sant Francesc origins from the 13th-century and was remodelled after it was struck by lightning in the 17th century. It is typically Mallorcan - a massive, forbidding sandstone wall with a delicately carved postal and a rose window at the centre.

You enter through lovely & peaceful Gothic cloisters with orange and lemon trees and a well at the centre. Inside the church is the tomb of Ramon Llull (1235-1316), the Catalan mystic who became a hermit following a failed seduction attempt and was later stoned to death attempting to convert Muslims in Tunisia. His statue can be seen on the Palma seafront.

Outside the basilica is a statue of another famous Mallorcan missionary, Fray Junípero Serra, who once lived in the monastery here. The streets behind the church, once home to jewellers and Jewish traders.