Today's protest and the mural in Palma.

Today's protest and the mural in Palma. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma26/03/2022 15:16
W1

A hundred people demonstrated today at the Hotel Artmadans in Palma in support of the mural that the artist José Luis Mesas painted on its façade, which has led to a legal dispute between the artist, the hotel's owner, Javier España, and Palma City Council.

The turn out doubled the expectations of the event's organisers, as they had counted on around fifty people to sign a manifesto in favour of Mesas' work. In the end, this number was doubled, reaching a hundred, including some of the island's most important artists.

All of them posed for a picture on the hotel terrace with the mural in the background, and took the opportunity to read and sign the manifesto in support of Mesas' work, which, as is well known, was the subject of a dispute because the city council considered that it should be removed "due to strictly technical criteria of heritage protection and its visual impact on the neighbourhood".

José Luis Mesas began the project to turn the façade of the Hotel Artmadams, in Son Armadans, into a great work of art, painting a large-scale mural on the façade and sides of the emblematic building designed by the architect Guillem Forteza in January 2020.

Ever since the new façade was unveiled, Palma City Council has demanded that it be removed while steps are still being taken to legalise the work of art.