The presence of painted tiles on the eaves is typical of rural Mallorcan houses. Its origins date back to the Middle Ages and the oldest piece in Mallorca dates back to the 12th century. The function of the decorated eaves is to symbolise the protective nature of the roofs and their inhabitants, and in this case the eaves of the cloister were decorated with painted tiles whose inscription possibly represented a biblical, poetic or even profane text related to the convent. Once all the decorated tiles have been recovered, this text could serve as the basis for a reading of the text.
The part of the tile that was hidden from view had no preparation whatsoever, and the symbols, signs or acronyms that can be seen on them were painted directly onto it with almagre (iron oxide). These signs consist of a number and underneath it a letter, capital or small, always inverted. It was assumed that they were codes for ordering the text when they were placed. In this way, the decorated piece of tile was visible, while the unpainted piece was hidden in the roof.
The tiles have uniform measurements of 50 cm long, 24 cm at their largest opening and 16 cm at their smallest opening. The restoration has made it possible to recover many elements that were previously invisible due to the dirt that impregnated the tiles and prevented them from being read.
Painted tiles in the Cloister of Sant Bonaventura
Carrer Convent, 19 07620 LLucmajor – Mallorca
Monday to Friday from 9.00 – 14.00 and Saturday from 17.00 – 20.00 hrs.
Tel + 34 971 669 758
