Patrimonial elements

A possessió is a large rural and agricultural property or estate, of a more or less important extension, which includes a small built-up nucleus -the houses of the possessió- the true centre of exploitation and production. They have their origins in the distribution of land among the nobles who participated in the Catalan conquest of Mallorca in 1229, a distribution based on the pre-existing Islamic farmhouses. Thus, the owners of these estates are usually related to descendants of noble families of landowners. On the estates you can find infrastructures of great ethnological interest: the coal cellar (storage of the coal produced on the property), the wine cellar (especially on the coasts of Valldemossa, Deià and Banyalbufar) or the defence tower, typical of estates near the coast.

For centuries, the possessió has been the keystone of the traditional agricultural and livestock farming economy. The estates have adapted to the passing of time, and the needs or the will of their owners have generated different construction models. Some have a fortified character, such as Son Marroig (Deià), others are Baroque palaces, such as Alfàbia (Bunyola), or Neoclassical, such as Raixa (Bunyola).