From May 1 to October 31, Torre-saura Palace is open to visitors. Seven new spaces have been opened and four others have been renovated. In total, the tour includes twenty-four spaces in one of the largest and most admired houses on the island.
Following the success of last season’s guided tours of the Torre-saura family home, the Fundación José María de Olives y de Ponsich, Conde de Torre-saura has decided to continue entrusting the company Talaia Cultura SL with the management of the initiative. This year, the initiative includes general visits and some other interesting new features.
Throughout the winter, work has been carried out to renovate four of the spaces that were opened to visitors last year and to refurbish seven new rooms that are being added to the tour this year: four are part of the palace’s noble area, while the other three are everyday rooms, such as the courtyard, one of the basements, and the coach houses.
The basement that can be visited displays an interesting collection of ancient ethnological items. The coach house displays some of the period carriages used by the family. In some of the rooms that can be visited, display cases have been installed to show valuable historical documents that form part of the county’s archive or library. To inform visitors about what they are seeing in each of the rooms, panels have been placed with photographs and information related to the history of the county, the family, the architecture and art of its heritage, the Spanish Civil War, the Sant Joan festivities, the Menorcan nobility, and the Torre-saura Foundation.
Much of the time spent this winter preparing the new tour has been devoted to the recovery and restoration of furniture, ornaments, and works of art, as well as curious elements of everyday life in the house, period dresses worn by the family, children’s games, personal objects, carriages, and more. These objects, incorporated into the rooms open to visitors, help to provide a better understanding of the life of the Menorcan aristocracy in times gone by.
