SA BASSA BLANCA

Cultural family activity in Alcúdia

The art museum created by Yannick and Ben Jakober, is one of the most impressive and unique exhibition halls in Mallorca. One of the things that makes this place so special, is the location of the art museum. It is situated in an old palace, a finca known by the name of Sa Bassa Blanca, overlooking the beautiful bay and habour of Alcúdia and Port d’Alcúdia from its location on the slopes of Alcanada.

Yannick and Ben Jakober both fell in love with Mallorca back in the 1960’s, however, the art museum was not established until 1993. Yannick Vu, daughter of Vietnamese impressionist, Vu Cao Dam, have exhibited her paintings and sculptures at some of the major galleries in New York and Paris. She traveled to to Mallorca in 1963 with her husband at that time, Italian painter Domenico Gnoli, and fell in love with the island.

Gnoli died in 1970, just 36 years old. Yannick Vu got re-married to her current husband, Austrian sculptor Ben Jakober.

Since 1992, the two have been signing their works under their common name.

 

Sa Bassa Blanca

Sa Bassa Blanca was designed by Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy (1900-1989), who had never before designed a construction in western Europe. He refered to Sa Bassa Blanca as a “ribat”, which in Arabic means a fortified building.

What makes Sa Bassa Blanca special, is the usage of various stylistics gathered from Andalusia, Basque country and Morocco. Elements such as arches, tiled floors, displaced terraces and wooden shreds are some of the things that makes this building unique.

You do not need to be an architecture-nerd to appreciate this masterpiece, or its breathtaking views of Alcúdia and Alcanada.

 

Highlights of the exhibitions

SoKraTES, is the former underground water reservoir of the building, but now an exhibition hall. The theme of the hall and the exhibitions here, reflects Eistein’s equation of the relativity of time and space.

SoKraTES also gathers various artists, among these, Mallorcan Miquel Barceló who is the man behind the new chapel of the Palma cathedral Sa Seu.

Els Nins, is another famous and spectacular collection in the museum. Els Nins (the children), is a collection of portrait paintings of children of nobel and royal families, mainly from the 16th and 19th century. The collection contains more than 150 works, by various European artists, a collection started nearly 40 years ago with Joan Mestre i Boschs’ portrait of a girl with cherries in her hand.

The library contains more than 7,000 works about art, photography, painting, architecture sculpturing and design. Yannick and Ben Jakober have made the collection electronically available to all students of the Balearic islands, in order to increase and enhance the interest of art.

The gardens of Sa Bassa Blanca, cannot be missed! Hundreds of beautiful flowers and plants enhances the scenic atmosphere of this little garden of Eden. Especially the rose garden of English roses, a so called “Hortus conclusus”, will stimulate your every sense and leave you with a feeling of joy and serenity.

Yannick and Ben also exhibits their collection of animal sculptures in these gardens, sculptures of prehistoric animals which occupies a big room in their hearts.