Society & Culture

Mallorca has around 920,000 inhabitants — but only about half of them were born on the island. The rest come from mainland Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Latin America, North Africa, and numerous other countries. This mix makes Mallorcan society as multifaceted as it is complex.

Identity and Self-Perception

The "real" Mallorcans — those whose families have lived on the island for generations — maintain a strong island identity. One is first a Mallorcan, then perhaps a Catalan or Spaniard. This identity is nourished by language, festivals, cuisine, and a deeply rooted local pride that varies from village to village: A Sollerense does not feel like a Palmesano, and vice versa.

Language: Mallorcan and Castellano

The actual language of the island is Mallorcan — a dialect of Catalan with its own vocabulary, softer pronunciation, and Arabic loanwords. Mallorcan differs from Barcelona Catalan about as much as Bavarian from High German. In everyday life, people switch fluently between Mallorcan and Castellano (Spanish) — with family, one speaks Mallorcan, with the waiter from Andalusia Castellano, with German guests often surprisingly good German.

Street signs and official documents are often in Catalan (not Mallorcan dialect, but standard Catalan), which sometimes leads to confusion: The city is officially called "Palma" (not "Palma de Mallorca"), the trees are called "oliveres," not "olivos."

Character and Manners

Mallorcans are considered more reserved than mainland Spaniards — less loud, less extroverted, but no less warm once the ice is broken. Patience is a virtue: Those who make the effort to learn a few words of Mallorcan ("Bon dia" instead of "Buenos dias") open doors. The relationship with tourists is pragmatic — they know that prosperity depends on tourism but wish for respect for the island and its culture.

Mallorca has a packed festival calendar — from ancient fire rituals to medieval reenactments to exuberant patron saint festivals, where entire villages celebrate for days.

Sant Antoni (January 16–17)

The island's most spectacular festival — and one of the wildest in Europe. On the eve of Saint Anthony's feast day, huge Foguerons (bonfires) blaze in villages like Sa Pobla, Muro, Arta, and Manacor. Dimonis (devil figures) dance through the streets, scaring children and tourists alike, and the whole night is filled with eating, drinking, and singing. The next morning, animals are blessed — from dogs to horses. Sant Antoni in Sa Pobla is Mallorca's most authentic village festival: loud, wild, unforgettable.

Sant Joan (June 23–24)

The Midsummer Night is celebrated across Mallorca with beach fires. Tradition: Bathe in the sea at midnight to cleanse oneself of bad luck and evil spirits. On the beaches of Palma, Alcudia, and Cala Millor, huge fires are lit, and thousands celebrate until dawn.

Moros i Cristians in Pollenca (August 2)

A dramatic reenactment of the 1550 pirate defense: "Moors" storm the village from the harbor, "Christians" led by Joan Mas defend it. The entire village becomes a stage — fireworks, drums, sword fights, and in the end, of course, Joan Mas triumphs. An incredible spectacle that attracts thousands.

Festes del Rei en Jaume (End of December/Beginning of January)

Palma celebrates the anniversary of the Reconquista (December 31, 1229) with the "Festa de l'Estandard" — historical parades, medieval markets, and commemorative events around the cathedral.

Corpus Christi and Patron Saint Festivals

Corpus Christi is celebrated particularly impressively in Pollenca: with flower carpets, processions, and traditional dance. Additionally, each village has its own patron saint festival (Festa Patronal) — usually in summer, with bull runs (Correbous), concerts, fireworks, and days of celebration. The most important: Mare de Deu del Carme (July 16, fishing villages), Santa Catalina Thomas (July 28, Valldemossa), Sant Bartomeu (August 24, many villages).

For centuries, Mallorca has attracted artists, writers, and intellectuals — some came for a winter, others stayed a lifetime.

Joan Miro — the Mallorcan by choice

The Catalan artist Joan Miro (1893–1983) moved permanently to Mallorca in 1956 — the homeland of his mother and wife. In his studio designed by Josep Lluís Sert in Cala Major (now the Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro), he created much of his later work. The studio is preserved today as if Miro had just left: brushes, paint tubes, half-finished works. The foundation hosts rotating exhibitions and houses over 6,000 works.

Robert Graves — the Englishman in Deia

The British writer Robert Graves (1895–1985), author of "I, Claudius," lived from 1929 until his death in the mountain village of Deia on the northwest coast. His house, Ca n'Alluny, is now a museum. Graves' presence attracted an entire artist colony to Deia — painters, musicians, writers. The myth persists to this day: Deia is considered the most artistic village on the island, even though property prices have now reached London levels.

Other Literary Traces

George Sand and Frederic Chopin spent the winter of 1838/39 in the Charterhouse of Valldemossa — now a museum and pilgrimage site for romantics. Sand's travelogue "A Winter in Mallorca" is an ambivalent love letter to the island. The Austrian Archduke Ludwig Salvator documented the Balearic Islands encyclopedically in the 19th century. And the Mallorcan poet Miquel Costa i Llobera created "El pi de Formentor," perhaps the most famous poem in the Catalan language.

Contemporary Scene

In recent years, Palma has developed into a hotspot for contemporary art. The Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani on the former city wall showcases international and Balearic contemporary art. Numerous galleries have settled in the Santa Catalina and Sa Gerreria districts. The Nit de l'Art (Art Night, September) transforms all of Palma into an open-air gallery.

Mallorca's architecture tells the island's history in stone — from Arabic arches to Gothic cathedrals to modernist Art Nouveau facades and the simple beauties of rural fincas.

La Seu — the Cathedral

The Cathedral of Palma (La Seu) is the island's landmark and one of the most significant Gothic buildings in Europe. Begun in 1300, completed only in 1601, it towers spectacularly over the sea. Its main nave is 44 meters high (higher than Notre-Dame in Paris), and the rose window — at 13.8 meters in diameter, one of the largest in the world — bathes the interior in magical light in the early morning. Antoni Gaudi redesigned the altar area at the beginning of the 20th century; contemporary artist Miquel Barcelo created an impressive ceramic chapel in 2007.

Modernisme in Palma

Palma experienced a Modernisme boom (the Catalan variant of Art Nouveau) around 1900. Magnificent buildings like Can Forteza Rey at Placa del Mercat (with its colorfully tiled facade), the Gran Hotel (1903, now CaixaForum), the Almacenes El Aguila, and Can Casasayas bear witness to this era. A city tour through Modernisme Palma is an architectural feast.

Fincas and Possessions

The traditional Finca — the Mallorcan country house — is an archetype of Mediterranean architecture: thick natural stone walls, wooden beam ceilings, courtyard, cistern, exterior walls in warm earth tones. Possessions are the larger estates of the nobility, often with a chapel, oil press, and farm buildings — many have been converted into exclusive country hotels in recent decades.

Dry Stone Walls (Marges)

The Marges — stone walls stacked without mortar — are ubiquitous in the Tramuntana and have been protected as part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 2011. They form the terraced landscapes, support olive groves and vegetable gardens, and are a masterpiece of rural engineering dating back to the Moorish period. It is estimated that Mallorca has over 15,000 kilometers of dry stone walls — more than half the length of the Great Wall of China.

Mallorca is often referred to as Germany's "17th federal state" — a cliché that, like all clichés, contains a kernel of truth but greatly simplifies reality.

History of German Tourism

Germans discovered Mallorca as a holiday destination in the 1960s, when charter flights from Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Frankfurt made the island affordable. Tourism pioneer Neckermann first offered package tours to Mallorca in 1963 — two weeks for 399 DM, including flight and hotel. It was the beginning of a love story.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Playa de Palma developed into the epicenter of German mass tourism. Ballermann 6, Bierkönig, Oberbayern — an infrastructure emerged tailored to German needs: schnitzel, beer, pop music, sun. This image still shapes Mallorca in Germany today — although it represents only a tiny fraction of the island.

The German Community Today

An estimated 30,000 to 60,000 Germans live permanently in Mallorca (the numbers vary greatly, as many are not officially registered). They form the largest foreign community on the island. The German infrastructure is impressive: There is a German-language daily newspaper (Mallorca Zeitung), German doctors, lawyers, tax advisors, German-speaking kindergartens and schools (the German School Mallorca in Palma), German church services, German supermarkets, and even a German butcher in Santa Ponsa.

Reality vs. Cliché

The German community is much more diverse than the Ballermann cliché suggests. Yes, there are the party tourists at Playa — but also the entrepreneur running a boutique hotel in Arta, the cycling pro training in the mountains, the artist in Deia, the retiree in Santanyi, the young family in Soller. Many Germans speak fluent Spanish (some even Mallorcan), are integrated into clubs, and feel part of the island community.

The relationship between Mallorcans and Germans is complex: Gratitude for the economic contribution, but also unease about rising property prices (Germans are among the most active property buyers), cultural frictions, and occasional accusations of arrogance — in both directions. Overall, coexistence works surprisingly well, especially in smaller places away from the tourist centers.