Church and Clositer of el Carme

Religious | Maó - Mahón

After many years of negotiations, the Carmelite monks obtained authorization from the English government to build a church and convent for their order in Maó. The building, which was started in 1750, took more than 70 years to complete. The church is the largest in the town. It has a Latin-cross layout and follows the aesthetical canons of Neoclassicism. The main façade, of which the gigantic columns of the doorway and two bell towers were to be the main features, was never completed. And neither was the cloister completed as per the original design – with a vaulted roof –, a simpler, cheaper solution being adopted. The Carmelites were expelled in 1835 by Mendizábal ecclesiastical confiscation law. From then on the building was used as a market, a prison, a courtroom and a girls’ school, all of which led to different alterations. At present Maó market is still located in the former convent of El Carme, and shares the space with numerous cultural bodies such as the open university UNED, the Conservatory of Music, the municipal exhibition room or the Hernández Mora Foundation, where interesting graphic and decorative artworks from the 18th to 20th centuries are exhibited