Museu d'Història de Manacor

About the museum

The origins of the museum date back to 1908, when the priest Joan Aguiló discovered the early Christian basilica and the Son Peretó site. Aguiló handed his finds over to the Ayuntamiento de Manacor, and his collection, previously displayed in the rectory, passed to the municipal museum in the Torre de ses Puntes, which opened in 1926. After several moves, losses and relocations, an archaeological museum opened in 1951 in the former girls' school near the town centre.

In 1985 the town council acquired the Torre dels Enagistes, and after a major restoration that gave the complex back its Gothic appearance, the museum was installed there. The tower has its origins in the Ancrad farmstead, granted in the 13th century, and the building is organised in rectangular blocks around a courtyard called the clastra, with a single external doorway. The Gothic section, with arrow slits and battlements, was extended in the 15th and 16th centuries, and in 1651 it passed to the Society of Jesus.

Although it began as an archaeological museum, in recent years it has changed its focus to tell the different historical periods of Manacor and the Llevant region. Its rooms cover prehistory, the Roman period, Late Antiquity, the Islamic period and the Christian Middle Ages. It holds collections of archaeology, ethnography and industrial archaeology, and also runs the ethnographic section at the Molí d’en Fraret.

Highlights

• Gothic Torre dels Enagistes, with cloister and inner courtyard
• Rooms on prehistory, the Roman period, Late Antiquity, the Islamic period and the Christian Middle Ages
• Finds from Son Peretó, an early Christian basilica discovered in 1908
• Carpentry room with miniature furniture
• Ethnographic section at the Molí d’en Fraret

Permanent exhibitions

• Exposición permanente de historia y arqueología – Chronological tour of the rooms on prehistory, the Roman period, Late Antiquity, the Islamic period and the Christian Middle Ages, with finds from Manacor and the Llevant region.
• Sala de carpintería y muebles en miniatura – Room dedicated to woodwork, with an exhibition of miniature furniture.
• Sección etnográfica del Molí d’en Fraret – Tools and objects of rural life in Manacor, arranged by season, showing how life in the countryside changed over the last seventy years.

Founded

1926

Operated by

Ajuntament de Manacor

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission to the museum is free.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials
• Audio description: no information

The Torre dels Enagistes has a lift and a car park for people with reduced mobility. There is a rest area on each floor with walking sticks that double as seats. The room texts and the leaflets for the permanent exhibition have been validated in easy-to-read format by the Coordinadora Balear.

Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Educational programme with workshops and dramatised visits for schoolchildren and families.

Getting there & parking

The museum is on the way out of Manacor towards Cales de Mallorca. It can be reached from Felanitx, from the Porto Cristo road and from the Manacor ring roads that link to the road from Palma to Artà.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Lockers

Museum shop run by the Asociación de Amigos del Museo (merchandise, replicas and town council publications). Lockers are available; ask for them at the information desk in the entrance hall.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit