Deià, Things to do, hotels, market

A Chalcolithic period followed where small huts and communities started to occupy the valleys of Deià, Valldemossa and Sóller and actually made up the largest population density on the island.

The pre-Talayotic period occurred from 1700 BC to 1300 BC, a period often times referred to as the “naviforme period” due to the vessel shaped building constructions from these centuries. The first constructions of this kind can be seen in the sites of Son Oleza and Can Sel Costella (Valldemossa), where you can also find the funerary cave of La Pedrera de Son Puig.

Cova des Morts de Son Gallard is another great example from the pre-Talayotic period exhibiting a bell-shaped burial place.

In the property of Son Marroig, a pre-Talayotic burial site contained eight stacked skulls and long bones, a radiocarbon dating gave the year 1819 BC.

From around 1300 – 1100 BC, the Talayotic culture arrived in the Gymnesiaen Islands (Mallorca and Menorca), a culture characterized by the megalithic constructions built for habitation and observation. The name is adopted from Catalan, as the word “talaia” means watchtower. Although there are some remains from this culture within the municipal perimeter, the most outstanding example in the nearby area is undoubtedly the settlements found on the properties of Son Ferrandel and Son Oleza, in Valldemossa.

Next to the Es Ripoll water reservoir, on the slope of Es Picons, a deposit of ceramics from around the 5th century BC was discovered. The deposit included fragments of amphorae of Greek-Italic and Punic-Ebusitan origin.

The Roman epoch

Around 123 BC, Roman general Quintus Caecili Metellus captured the archipelago from the indigenous peoples and remaining Phoenicians still living here. After an arduous quest to find hunt down and find the indigenous inhabitants who had retrenched themselves in the Talayotic settlements, the Roman army could call themselves victorious. Metellus was awarded the title of consul and given the nickname “Balearicus”.

The Romans established the two major cities Palma and Pol-lèntia, whereof the latter was the biggest and most important. However, many of the Talayotic settlements coexisted with the new Roman rulers of the island. It is most likely that the indigenous people were taken as slaves and worked with agricultural activities introduced with the re-population of the new rulers. It was in fact during this time the Mediterranean triad arrived on the island:

• Grapes
• Grains
• Olives

One of the largest Roman occupations in present day Deià, was the settlement of Son Rul.lan where amphora and fragments of tegulas were found. But there were several other settlements occupied during the Roman epoch, including the one on the small hill south of Castell des Moro where ceramics and fragments of amphorae were found. Lastly, at a location known as “Cota 264” a vegetable degreaser and Roman ceramics were found.

The Moorish times

Following a series of centuries without belonging to any kingdom, emirate or empire, the Balearic archipelago came under Moorish rule in the 10th century. Nobleman Iṣām al-Ḫawlānī discovered the archipelago during a pilgrimage to Mecca when he had to take cover during a great storm. When he returned home, he asked Emir Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi to capture this archipelago so that it could be annexed to the Emirate of Cordoba. Iṣām al-Ḫawlānī himself commanded the fleet that set sails towards the Balearics. In the time between 902 and 903, Mallorca was successfully captured and Iṣām al-Ḫawlānī was awarded the title of walí (governor) of the Illes Orientals de l’Àndalus.

Following the annexation to the Emirate of Cordóba, Medina Mayurqa (present day Palma) soon grew to become one of the most prosperous harbors in the western Mediterranean basin, especially because of the trading and piracy activities.

The re-population by tribes and clans brought a true agrarian lifestyle to the islands, along with new crops such as rice and artichokes. The agricultural Moors lived in cottages and farmsteads scattered over the countryside, in administrative districts known as “ajzà” (singular. juz) in order to be able to pay taxes to the capital, in other words a fiscal and societal system was introduced. The area here was called “Ad-Daia“, which simply meant hamlet. The largest and most importand farmstead during the Moorish rule, was the one of “Haddayan“.

Ad-Daia belonged to the Juz’ de Musuh-Bunyola, an administrative district which also comprised Bunyola, Valldemossa and the eastern parts of Esporles. In Ad-Daia, the Moors built stone terraces on the slopes of the mountains, just like those seem other places in the Tramuntana such as Banyalbufar, which allowed for effective irrigation by transporting the water. These stone terraces known as “marjades” have been catalogued as World Heritage by UNESCO and is still used today to cultivate organic crops.

The conquest and modern age

In 1229, Mallorca was officially conquered by King Jaume I of Aragón, although many areas including Deià was not completely captured until 1231. King Jaume had gathered an army of more than 20,000 soldiers and horsemen and made a pact with church, lords and knights to divide the island among them once the campaign was successfully over. Medina Mayurqa was under Catalan-Aragonese siege for three months, between September and December 1229, during which the city was bathed in Moorish blood as the soldiers sacked and killed as they made their way through the streets. Those Moors that was not killed, fled to the Tramuntana and Llevant mountains to take refuge. It was during the second campaign that Jaume’s troops were able to enter the Tramuntana range where they found the final resistance in the fortified stronghold of Almellutx (present day Escorca) and Castell del Rei (Pollenca).

The area of Deià was given to Jaume’s uncle, Nunó Sanç, count of Roussillon and Cerdanya, a fact stated in the “Llibre del Repartiment de Mallorca” (Book of Distribution of Mallorca), a chronicle documenting how the lands of the island was divided. According to a promise Jaume had given the abbot of the Santa Maria de Poblet, in Catalonia, some lands of the Moorish farmstead of Haddayan was assigned the Cistercian order where the monastery of Ca l’Abat was constructed. The Cistercians also received the Miramar property in Valldemossa, the lands of La Granja in Esporles and the royal monastery of La Real in Palma.

Following the death of Nunó Sanç in 1242, Deià came under administration of Valldemossa, while at the same time, the abbot of the La Real kept the jurisdiction of his lands. Whenever a dispute occurred, the mayor of Valldemossa and abbot of La Real would argue over who had the final saying and complained to the governor of Mallorca.

In 1526, on August 6th, the history of Deià saw a major turning point. On this exact day, the townspeople of the village erected a church on a nearby hill to which the bishop of Mallorca sent a priest to serve them. The church was too a message to the governor that the people of Deià demanded an independent administration free of Valldemossa. Of course, the mayor of Valldemossa was opposed to the idea and went to the governor himself to ask him to refuse the request. A prolonged litigation of 57 years followed, as the possibility of segregating the two was troubled by economical factors. One of the main issues that made it difficult to segregate the two, was the fact that a lot of the major properties of Valldemossa, many of them that can be spotted in the valley looking from the La Miranda vantage point, belonged to the nobility of Palma and therefore did not contribute with taxes. At that time in Mallorca, it was customary that you would only pay taxes where you lived.

However, on November 7th, 1583, the inhabitants of Deià was gathered by the church to hear the sentence, that the segregation of the two had been verified by the governor. Today, on the front wall of the church there is a plaque that commemorates those people who made it possible that Deià is an independent town and municipality.

In 1582, North African corsairs attempted to gain access to the area when they anchored in the cove of Cala Deià. The corsairs counted 150 men, but were defeated by only 50 Mallorcans commanded by Captain Mateu Sanglada, whom organized his men around the Sa Foradada islet. Throughout the 16th century, Mallorca and Menorca was harassed by corsairs of the Ottoman empire that was trying to gain control of the entire Mediterranean. As a direct consequence of this episode, the watchtower of Pedrissa was erected to protect the coast and communicate with other watchtowers along the coastline.

In the centuries that followed these events, Deià continued to grow as an agricultural area devoted to cultivation of mainly olives and citrus fruits. However, the area too engaged in livestock (pigs), lime and charcoal burning and wheat. During the 19th century, fishing too became an important activity and fish was transported to the market in Palma. Up until the ravage of the feared Phylloxera that hit Mallorca around 1890, there was more than 31 hectares of vineyards in the area. At a point, the population exceeded 1,500 inhabitants.

In 1867, archduke of Austria Ludwig Salvator arrived on the island on a journey to do scientific studies. The journey was sponsored by the emperor, whom granted Salvator the steam yacht “Nixe”, and allowed him to skip the traditional military education. Salvator was fascinated by nature, landscapes and environments in the Mediterranean region. His attention was aimed solely on little-known and undiscovered places over typical cultural centers like capital areas. At the time of his arrival, Mallorca was, believe it or not, a very little-known place in the Mediterranean Sea.

Two years later, in 1869, Salvator published the first volume of his masterpiece “Die Balearen” (The Balearics), a work comprised by 6,000 pages of stories and pictures taken from all over the Balearic archipelago. The works of Salvator was dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph, and brought him a gold medal at the World Exhibition (Exposition Universelle) in Paris in 1878. The works included the most remarkable details he found during his trips including animal and plant species, meteorology, history, folklore, architecture, landscapes, as well as cultural heritage experienced through conversing with the locals of the islands.

Salvatore went from fascinated to obsessed with Mallorca, the wild nature and kindness of the local inhabitants impressed him so much that in 1870 he purchased the Son Marroig estate which he chose as his primary domicile and to where he had a pavilion brought from Calabria, Italy, built in pure marble, which he used for writing and reflecting. Over the course of the following 30 years, Salvator acquired properties along the coast between Deià and Valldemossa, actually, he ended up owning a strectch of no less than 16 kilometers. The fascination with the wild nature and heritage of Mallorca made Salvator a protagonist in tourism, even before tourism was a thing. Beside from his written works, he also set up the guesthouse of Ca Madó Pilla, where he offered visitors three whole days of lodging free of charge just so others too could see the natural beauty of this island. He even created paths leading from the coastline to the mountain of Teix, on which he established many of the “miradors” (vantage points) with a platform and bench to enjoy the breathtaking views and sunsets. Many of these vantage points created by the archduke are still here today and great stops when hiking in the mountainous area.

Contemporary

Ludwig Salvator was far from the last foreign prominent name to visit or live in Deià. English poet and novelist Robert Graves, was one of the first European foreigners to settle in the village in the 20th century. With Laura Riding, Graves started the printing and publishing company, Seizin Press in the 1930’s. Graves returned after the war and stayed in Deià until his death in 1985. He used the village as the setting for many of his stories, including the historical novel “Hercules my Shipmate”. His house is now a museum open to the public and well worth a visit.

Anaïs Nin visited the village in the 1920’s, where she wrote several short stories based on the settings of Cala Deià. Spanish author Carme Riera recently wrote a short story about Nine’s short stories and how she found inspiration in this particular area. The village is also the unnamed destination for Uruguayan writer Cristina Peri Rossi’s “The Ship of Fools”.

Richard Branson, British entrepreneur and businessman behind the Virgin company, bought a luxury estate in Deià which he transformed into a 5-star luxury hotel under the name “Belmond La Residencia”.

In the heart of the village, the bar Sa Fonda has been venue for many famous musicians such as Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, David Allen. Mick Jagger, Mark Knopfler, Mike Oldfield and Caroline Corr. Much of Fionn Regan’s third studio album, “100 Acres by Sycamore” was inspired by his time in Deia. Caroline Corr was also married in the beautiful Joan Baptista church.

It is not without reason that Deiá is often referred to as “Village of Artists” – perhaps you are the next name to have found inspiration in Deiá?