Reform and rehabilitation works at the Torres del Temple in Palma are entering their final phase and will allow this emblematic heritage complex to open its doors in early 2026 as the new Centre d’Interpretació de la Fortalesa del Temple. The works began in late 2023 and have had an approximate budget of €2.4 million, funded by Palma’s Ajuntament. The new museum space will explain the history and evolution of the building from the 12th century and will be integrated into the city’s network of exhibition spaces.
Image of the renovated interior of the Torres del Temple building. Photos: Ajuntament de Palma.
Palma’s mayor, Jaime Martínez Llabrés, has visited the site to see the progress of the works and has highlighted the importance of restoring the complex: “It is a jewel of Palma that was hidden away. The city and the people of Palma have good reason to celebrate having recovered heritage of this kind.” The head of Cort has underlined that the intervention has been particularly complex and has praised the outcome as an “exquisite restoration”.
Martínez Llabrés has congratulated the municipal departments of Culture and Urban Planning, as well as the technicians and experts involved in the project, emphasising that the work will allow the building itself to form part of the museographic narrative. As he noted, the restoration has respected the original and pre-existing elements as much as possible, which will make it easier to understand “the whole history of what has happened in this building”, which has had multiple uses over the centuries.
The Councillor for Urban Planning, Housing and Strategic Projects, Óscar Fidalgo; Palma’s mayor, Jaime Martínez Llabrés; and the Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture, Tourism, Sport and Municipal Coordination, Javier Bonet, during their visit to the Torres del Temple.
Palma’s networked museum
The future Centre d’Interpretació de la Fortalesa del Temple will be integrated into the so-called networked museum of Palma, whose central hub will be the Centre d’Interpretació de la Ciutat, located in Plaça Major, and which will be complemented by other cultural projects such as Can Serra or the musealisation of Castell de Bellver. This set of cultural facilities aims to explain the city’s history and enhance its heritage, within the framework of Palma’s bid to become European Capital of Culture 2031.
Also present during the visit to the works were the Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture, Tourism, Sport and Municipal Coordination, Javier Bonet, and the Councillor for Urban Planning, Housing and Strategic Projects, Óscar Fidalgo.
The Torres del Temple, a building with centuries of history
The earliest traces of the Torres del Temple date back to the 12th century, when the complex formed part of the city’s defensive system. In the Islamic period, a double fortified gate known as the Almudaina de Gamura was built. After the conquest of Mallorca by Jaume I in 1229, the building was handed over to the Order of the Temple and later went on to serve different purposes, such as a hospice for the Order of St John of Jerusalem.
Over the course of the 20th century, the complex underwent various transformations and became fragmented, until in 2004 it was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Asset of Cultural Interest) by the Consell de Mallorca. Three years later, in 2007, it was acquired by Palma’s Ajuntament. The current rehabilitation works, carried out by the studio Arquitectura y Urbanisme Estudi Boix, SLP, will restore this historic site and open it to the public as a new flagship cultural space in the city.
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