Real Cartuja / Cartoitxa

The palace was built by king Jaume II in the beginning of the 14th century, for his son Nuño Sanç who suffered great from asthma. The clean air and mild temperatures of Mallorca’s mountains has always been known to have qualities beneficial to one’s health.

During the 14th century, the palace was used by the royals as a place for hunting.

By the end of the Mallorcan dynasty (1349), the king, Martin the Humane, gave the palace to the Carthusian order.

In 1717, the Carthusian monks began the expansions of both church and monastery.

In 1801, minister of justice, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, was ordered in exile here. However, instead of treating Jovellanos as a prisoner, the monks showed him their natural hospitality. In return of their kindness, Jovellanos helped decorating the church. It is from this time he wrote two of his most famous works; ‘Historia de la Cartuja de Valldemossa’ and ‘Instrucción Pública’.

In 1833, the first Carlist War breaks out in Spain. In order to raise funds to support queen Isabella, prime minister Juan Mendizábel seized all private monasteries all over Spain and sold them to to private investors, whom would be promised shares in the state and great opportunities as landowners.

The Carthusians never found the money to buy back the palace, and the interior of it still points to the private owners who had it in the 1830’s.

The Chopin Museum

Speaking of the 1830’s, we can’t come about the story of Frederic Chopin and George Sand. The winter of 1838/39, Chopin and Sand traveled to Mallorca because of Chopin’s lung decease. They stayed in a cell in the palace, but when the local community fount out they were not married, they were no longer welcome in Valldemossa. From here, they fled to the small hermitage ‘Ermita de Valldemossa’, on the mountainsides near the coastline.

That winter became one of the most important periods of Chopin’s career. Also, George Sand wrote her famous work ‘A winter in Mallorca’ here.

Inside the charterhouse, in cell no 5, you can visit the Chopin museum. This is where Chopin and Sand stayed, and where many of their personal items are now exhibited including some of their works and Chopin’s piano.