Monasterio de la Real

The Monastery of Santa María de la Real (Sancta Maria de Regali) in Palma de Mallorca is a former Cistercian abbey in the Balearic Islands region of Spain.

Founded as a daughter monastery of Poblet Monastery in 1236 at the request of Pope Gregory IX in the newly conquered Kingdom of Mallorca by King James II of Aragon, the monastery belonged to the filiation of the primary abbey of Clairvaux. For its foundation, Count Nuño Sans handed over his estate Alpich de Esporles as well as other estates in Deià and Manacor to the order. The monks initially settled in Sa Granja in the Sierra de Tramuntana, but moved to the area of Palma three years later. The Balearic philosopher Ramon Llull lived in the monastery, which housed one of Mallorca's most important libraries, at the turn of the 13th to the 14th century. In 1820, the Cistercians had to leave Mallorca, but returned in 1823. The monastery finally fell victim to the secularization (Desamortización) under the government of Juan Álvarez Mendizábal in 1835. The monastery initially fell into disrepair but was handed over to the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts in 1897, who restored it.