Iglesia de santa Maria

In the place of the Constitution the Santa Maria church can be found, one of the most important monuments in the city and one of the most representative of Mahon's history.

The Santa Maria church was built in 1288 by Alfonso III de Aragón, who came to free Minorca from the Muslim domination to which they had been subjected for 400 years. The construction of the Santa Maria church allowed to provide the city with the only place of Christian worship in that era.

Its steeple rises above one of the angles demarcating the first fortifications in the city.

In the early 18th century, under the British domination, its structure was severely damaged by thunder. It was then rebuilt as we can see it today, with its neoclassical structure and its side chapels filled with neo-Gothic ornament.

Its interior houses a majestic organ dating from 1810, for which the construction lasted 3 years. The organ is fifteen meters high and nine meters wide. It has four keyboards, 51 stops and 3006 pipes!

Concerts have been regularly celebrated in this church over the past thirty years. Maybe will you be lucky enough to attend one?

Under the big organ, you can see a testimony to the French occupation of the island which took place from 1756 to 1763. It is a memorial plaque to commemorate the death of the general Jean Toussaint de la Pierre, governor of Minorca at the time.