Palace of the Kings of Majorca

The Palace of the Kings of Majorca (French: Palais des Rois de Majorque, Catalan: Palau dels Reis de Mallorca), is a palace and a fortress with gardens overlooking the city of Perpignan in Pyrenees-Orientales, France.

In 1276, King James II of Majorca made Perpignan the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca. He started to build a palace with gardens on the hill of Puig del rey, on the south of the town, completing it in 1309. The architects were Ramon Pau, Pons Descoll, and Bernat Quer.

In 1415, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, organised a European summit in Perpignan, to convince the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII to resign his office and bring an end to the Western Schism through the Council of Constance. On 20 September 1415, the Emperor met with Antipope Benedict XIII at the palace with the King Ferdinand I of Aragon and the delegations of the Counts of Foix, Provence, Savoy, Lorraine, the embassy of the Roman church for the Council of Constance, and embassies from the kings of France, England, Hungary, Castile and Navarre. The Antipope refused to resign and to recognise the Pope that the Council had chosen, clashing with the Emperor, who left Perpignan on 5 November.

Part of the northern wing of the palace was destroyed in a siege in 1502.

Following the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, France gained Roussillon, and proceed to develop the defensive features of the palace.

The General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales bought the palace and the gardens in 1958, from the Ministry of Defence who keeps the Vauban bastions and 19th century buildings and courts as a garrison.

The Palace of the Kings of Majorca is a fortified palace in the Gothic style. It is organised around three courtyards 60 m square. The first foremen on the site were Ramon Pau and especially Pons Descoyl, very active in Perpignan and the Balearic Islands.

It has two chapels, one above the other: the lower is the Queen's Chapel, while the upper is Holy Cross with a pink marble door.

Here we have together in the Great Hall; the seat of political power, the chapel and the royal residence. The position of the chapel in the heart the royal apartments, opposite the throne room, indicates the importance of the spiritual over the temporal. The plan of the palace was inspired by those of Mallorca, and the chapel is like that of the earlier Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

Text adapted from “Palace of the Kings of Majorca” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Palace of the Kings of Majorca ranks #1,791 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #135 of the 469 mapped in France. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 69% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,169 times in the last 60 days, more than 81% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Perpignan, 1 km away. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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