Palma Cathedral

Few cathedrals greet the traveller quite like Palma's. Rising on the shore of the bay, it looks out over the sea from the old Roman and Renaissance walls that once defended the city, a scene no other Gothic cathedral can offer. Majorcans simply call it La Seu, the name given to cathedrals in the Crown of Aragon, and it is the island's great church and the seat of the Diocese of Majorca, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.

Once through the door, the first thing that strikes you is the scale. The vaults soar to 45 metres, higher than Cologne and only just below Beauvais, the tallest Gothic cathedral in the world, and on a par with Milan. More than 6,600 square metres of floor space and a vast interior volume make this Levantine Gothic space an unforgettable experience of light and emptiness. Be sure to look up at its great rose window, 13 metres in diameter: it is the largest original rose window of any European Gothic cathedral, as those that surpass it are Neo-Gothic.

Its origins have a touch of seafaring legend about them. During the crossing to conquer Majorca, a fierce storm caught James I's fleet by surprise, and the king vowed to build a church to Saint Mary if their lives were spared. After the conquest in 1229, he ordered the great mosque of Madina Mayurqa to be demolished, and work began on the very same site.

Construction was a lengthy affair. James III attended its consecration in 1346, when it was deemed complete, but work continued until 1601 and, in truth, the building has never stopped being altered and restored. Declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1931, La Seu is today Palma's most recognisable landmark and an essential visit for understanding the island's history.