The Consell de Mallorca has launched Palma, ciutat de cinemes (Palma, city of cinemas), a project that traces the history of the city’s cinemas and their role in its social and cultural life.
The exhibition
The exhibition, produced by the Consell’s Arxiu del So i de la Imatge (Sound and Image Archive), runs from 6 February to 11 April 2026 at La Misericòrdia in Palma. It is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 8pm, and admission is free.
Antònia Roca, vice-president of the Consell and head of culture and heritage, described it as part of the institution’s commitment to recovering and sharing a cultural heritage closely linked to the urban and social transformation of Palma.
What visitors can see
- Original posters from the façade of the former Multicines Metropolitan.
- Vintage film projectors and old cinema programmes.
- Hand-painted posters by Rafael Ruiz, the artist who painted the giant film posters that once hung outside Palma’s cinemas.
- A screening of Toni Bestard’s documentary El somni efímer.
The project was coordinated by Francesc X. Bonnín, head of the archive.
The book
The exhibition is accompanied by a book, Palma, ciutat de cinemes, which the organisers describe as the most comprehensive study yet of the city’s cinemas, from the grand premiere houses to neighbourhood picture houses and summer open-air cinemas. It includes previously unpublished photographs and information on how cinemas were run and their place in the life of the city.
The book is written by the cinema historians Verònica and Tomeu Fiol Obrador, specialists in the history of film in Mallorca.
A lost world
For much of the 20th century, Palma had dozens of cinemas, and going to the pictures was one of the main forms of entertainment. Many of the great cinemas of the city centre, such as the Rialto, the Born and the Augusta, have closed or changed, replaced by multiplexes in shopping centres. The exhibition is a chance for older residents to remember a lost part of city life — and for younger ones to discover it.
