Cloister Sant Bonaventura

Llucmajor

On June 3, 1608, The Franciscans settled on this site after living in Monestir Street in 1599. The definitive convent was built during the 17th century and was configured by the church, the cloister, small annexes and the orchard. On October 29, 1656, the temple was blessed by Fr. Pere Roig and Noguera.

The internal spaces of the convent, cells, offices, workshops, refectory, kitchen, porter, library, restrooms, chapter house or meeting room, were distributed around the cloister, the lower floor finished being built around 1670 and the upper one around 1697. baroque claustral typology of the Franciscans: it has a square floor plan with a double gallery superimposed on semicircular arches. The lower gallery is covered with a mirror vault while the upper deck is made of beams.

The conventual enclosure was occupied by the Franciscan order until the Confiscation of Mendizábal that took place on March 10, 1836. From then until 1998, when the Civil Guard finally abandoned the cloister and its annexes, the complex It was the headquarters of the Civil Guard, Justice of the Peace and Municipal Slaughterhouse. In 1999, the project for the rehabilitation and recovery of the building was established, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest on August 23, 2002. The restoration works began on April 28, 2006, the day on which the symbolic act of the placement of the first stone The cloister’s inauguration took place on June 27, 2007.

THE MURAL PAINTS

The paintings of the corridor of the ground floor are all monochrome and are made using the technique of grisaille (degradation of gray colors). It is a unitary cycle conformed by Franciscan saints and Blesseds, perfectly identified by a distinctive gangway in the form of a band. These paintings were made in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, it is shortly after the completion of the construction of the cloister in 1697. The cloister of Sant Bonaventura is the only one in Spain and the few in Europe where this type is preserved of paintings in good condition.

The group of paintings begin with the image os San Pedro de Alcántara, Sant Francisca Romana, blessed salvador de Horta, Saint Magaret of Cartona and Saint Louis of France, King of France.

The cycle continues in the corridor where Blessed Ramón Llull, blessed Majorcan, closely related to the order of the Franciscans; Santa Birgitta, patroness of Sweden; San Roque, Santa Coleta and Santo domingo de Guzmán.

The corridor begins with the irrecoverable image of San Francisco de Asís, founder of the order; and it continues with the images of Santa Clara de Asís, San Buenaventura -titular of the convent and general of the order-, Santa Isabel of Portugal -reina of Portugal-, San Antonio de Padua, Santa Isabel of Hungary and San Bernardino de Siena.

Finally, in the corridor, only three painting are preserved; Santa Clara de Monte Falco, Sant Lluis de tolosa and Santa Juana de la Cruz.

Remains of the wall paintings, in the case polychrome, have also been found in the refectory. These painting are located in the vault and in the lateral arcades of the walls. A Sant Bonaventura is recognized, very deteriorated.

The paintings that decorate the access staircase to the upper floor, are also configured for decorative reasons and for various scenes related to the Franciscan order and are polychrome paintings, possibly from the late eighteenth century.

The paintings of the lintel and of the jambs of the window that communicates with the outside a father God with the outstretched arms on the lintel and cherubs on the jambs, combined with vegetal motifs, have been preserved.

On the upper floor landing four Franciscan scenes of Marian sign were found: the coronation of Saint Anthony of Padua in the presence of the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin Mary delivering the Child to Saint Francis, the heavenly vision of Saint Francis and fragments of a scene whose gaps do not allow its identification.

On the upper floor some of the numbers of the presumably 15 cells of the convent have appeared.

Among the illustrious Franciscans, Father Jerónimo Boscana (1775 – 1831) who participated in the Californian mission of San Juan de Capistrano stands out, following the example and message of the well-known and also Franciscan Fray Junípero Serra.