Resumen de La escalera en los patios señoriales de palma de mallorca: Tipología y ornamentación*
Miquel Àngel Capellà Galmés, Joan Domenge i Mesquida
The staircase in the stately courtyards of Palma de Mallorca: typology and ornamentation The staircase that gives access to the main floor of the house is a key architectural element of the Late Gothic civil architecture. It also gives character to the courtyard of the great stately mansions. Unfortunately, examples are rather scarce in Palma de Mallorca due to renovations carried out in modern times (17th and 18th centuries) and irretrievable losses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the surviving staircases, the one from Can Oleo stands out. It is from the late 15th century, and it has an openwork railing divided into panels separated by pinnacles and other sculptural decorations. The staircase from Cal Comte de la Cova must also be considered despite the transformations it has undergone through time. The most direct typological and decorative antecedents of Majorcan staircases can be found in Catalan houses and especially in the monumental staircase of the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona, but potentially comparable examples can also be identified in other areas of the Crown of Aragon and more particularly in Valencia. This contribution will review and systematize this type of staircases: while Majorcan scholarship has paid some attention to them, deeper contextual study is necessary to establish their artistic filiation, to determine their chronological sequence, and to analyze in greater detail their Flamboyant Gothic-inspired ornament.
