Torre-saura Foundation is kicking off a new season of visits into Cas Comte palace. The iconic manor house, in the historic center of Ciutadella, will open its doors to the public on May 1 and remain open until October 31. Six months during which tourists and island residents can access the interior to enjoy its historical, architectural, and heritage richness.
The schedule for this new season will be different from last year. After three years of experience and observing the hours when the palace received the most visitors, the Foundation has opted for a continuous schedule, without closing at mid-day. Thus, it can be visited from Monday to Friday between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM. This schedule is designed to meet the growing demand from tourists to visit Ciutadella’s cultural and historical sites in the morning and early evening.
Admission to Cas Comte will be 7.5 euros. This is the general rate, but there will also be a reduced rate of 6 euros for: seniors, students, people over sixty, members of large families, and youths between 11 and 18 years old. Admission for children under ten years old will be free. As for guided tours, they will be held on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, starting in June. The price in this case will be 15 euros. Advance tickets can be purchased on the Foundation’s website.
New arrivals
With the aim of enhancing the visit, the Foundation has incorporated new spaces and elements that add value to the palace’s heritage and to the work being carried out for its recovery and restoration. It is also a way to expand its content and information and to provide a more complete historical narrative.
Opening and fine-tuning of a new wing of the palace
In this regard, the original oratory has been restored and will be part of the tour. A very distinctive private space in the manor houses of the era and deeply integrated into the daily lives of the nobles, who used it for reciting the rosary and praying. Very close by, in the same wing, for the first time, you can also access a dressing room or boudoir furnished with furniture from the prestigious Casa Busquets of Barcelona, from the early 20th century, which was used by the wife of the fifth Count of Torre-saura, Pilar de Ponsich, and by her daughter, Maria Dolors Olives, sister of the sixth Count of Torre-saura and popularly known by the citizens of Ciutadella as “la condesita.” A wardrobe full of toiletries and period pharmacy products can be seen there. Additionally, right next door, visitors will find an alternative viewing point of the so-called ‘Queen’s Bedroom,’ which could already be seen, but from another room, with a different perspective. It is a room where the draperies that originally covered the walls have been reproduced, using the exceptional original anchoring system that was still preserved.
Together, the three described spaces form part of a very interesting wing that, until now, could not be visited and has been prepared and adapted for public display, achieving a faithful look to the original and recreated according to historical logic.
More display cases featuring the archive’s most representative books and documents
On the other hand, during the tour of the palace, a series of display cases (formerly cabinets) have been added, featuring highly representative samples from the palace’s library and historical and musical archives.
In the display case dedicated to the library, some of the most interesting and curious items from the immense Torre-Saura collection can be found. Medicine, literature, religion, French literature, English novel… the subjects of the books preserved inside the palace are endless and reveal the intellectual interests and literary tastes of the house’s family members.
In the remaining display cases, there is a selection of sheet music from the music collection, a display of documents and archives related to the family’s administrative life, as well as some of their titles and privileges. Also on display are the so-called personal cédulas (the identity document, DNI, of that era) or invitations received to attend some of the aristocracy’s most important parties, such as the presentation into society of María del Rosario Cayetana, later Duchess of Alba.
Seats and ornaments
Finally, the saddle and tack room has also been opened to the public, its original state scrupulously preserved as it has come down to the present day, displaying a rich and complete collection of tack, saddles and harnesses, and where the saddles and harnesses used by the last counts of Torre-saura during the Sant Joan festivities are also on display.
