Gothic-style fortification of Palma de Mallorca. It was built at the beginning of the 14th century by order of King Jaime II of Majorca. It is located on a hill 112 meters above sea level, which gives it privileged views over the city, the port, the Tramuntana mountains and the Llano de Mallorca; in fact, its name comes from the old Catalan bell veer, which means "beautiful view". One of its peculiarities is that it is one of the few castles in all of Europe with a circular plan, being the oldest of these.
Construction of the fortress near Palma de Mallorca began around 1300. The architect was Pere Salvá, who had already designed the Almudain Palace in the heart of Palma de Mallorca. The circular fortress was completed in 1309. From then on, the Mallorcan King Jaume II used the stronghold overlooking the city as a residence and defensive structure. In the following centuries, the Castell de Bellver was repeatedly used as a prison.
The Castell de Bellver ('Bellver Castle') is a fortress that towers over Palma, the capital of Mallorca.
Castell de Bellver, 112.6 meters above sea level, about 3 km west of downtown Palma, is unique in Spain and Europe. Because, unlike most weir structures, it is circular. The castle is built around the inner courtyard and the two floors surrounding the courtyard are rounded. The arcades on the lower floor are Romanesque. The colonnade on the upper floor is Gothic. The whole complex looks defensively closed and impregnable from the outside, while the two-story loggias that surround the courtyard, with their playful columns, express pure joie de vivre.
Surrounded by a 4-meter-wide moat, the castle has three towers that rise above the round parts, while the fourth tower, the Torre de l'Homenatge, is outside the round building and is connected to the actual fortress by a small bridge . Visitors can reach it from the terrace on the second floor, which was a strategic surveillance point. From there, the observer can see many kilometers inland and towards the sea. This is what gave the castle its name: Bellver means "beautiful view". In the bottom of the Torre, a floor hatch leads into a cave with a rectangular window on one side only. This cave was used as a dungeon where the prisoners were thrown from a height of 5 meters. Under the castle there is an artificially created cave system, the Coves d’Avall, which was created by the mining of materials during construction. The castle has been used repeatedly as a prison over the centuries. The most famous prisoner was Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Minister of Justice and Tax, who was liberated by the French at the beginning of the 19th century (from 1802 to 1808). Since 1936, the Museum of the City of Palma has been on the ground floor.
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