Windmills Of Mallorca

If you have been lucky enough, when coming in to land at Palma airport, to arrive on a clear day and in broad daylight, no doubt your attention will have been caught by the numerous windmills dotted around the immediate landscape. These mills complement the island’s natural beauty and are one of its typical symbols, featuring in Archduke Ludwig Salvador’s books, on a 15th Century St. George altar screen, and in many popular Mallorcan poems; they get a mention in “glosses” (a traditional Mallorcan song), in Santiago Russinyol and Pere d’Alcántara’s poetry …. Mallorcan windmills are iconic representatives of the island’s rural identity and landscape.

However, after taking the inevitable photo of a backlit windmill, many visitors are overcome with curiosity … What are these windmills for? And why are some different from others? Some sit atop another structure, whereas others rise straight from the ground; some are tall and slender, others are rather squat; some have six blades while others can boast up to eighteen; some have an arrow-like tail to guide them, while others had to be spun manually; some have wooden blades, others have metal ones or sails. Each and every one is perfectly engineered for its specific mission.

The windmill was an essential tool for feeding an island which was once primarily agricultural and self-sufficient.

Different types of windmill can be classified according to: function (for grinding wheat or olives, extracting water or pulverising plaster, cement, salt or even stone), the position of the motor system (vertical or horizontal axis) or the type of energy used (water, wind, manpower or blood – those in which animals were employed were called “sang”, literally blood mills). Each type is linked to a distinct landscape: windmills on the plains, watermills in the Tramuntana mountains, manual or “blood” mills in the “possessions” (grand estates).

The most common types of mill in Mallorca are those used for grinding wheat, or “fariners” (from “farina” or flour), or the ubiquitous “aiguaders” for extracting water. There are also some examples of handsome olive mills, or rustic “tafonas”.

Bread, Water and Oil

It is true and worrying that so many of these mills are in a terrible state of repair, with many of them missing their blades. There are more than 3000 catalogued windmills, but only around 10% of these continue to extract water; others have been reconverted into dwellings, and as many as 23 mills have been restored and converted into businesses of some kind: restaurants, concert halls, museums or even shops. Even so, for several years now, various associations and institutions have been making efforts to reclaim this important part of our heritage via the “Gabriel Rabassa” Windmill Restoration Workshop. Some mills have been adapted for generating electricity. Fortunately their future is promising.

As you are most probably aware, in Mallorcan popular culture each trade has its own patron saint to watch over and guide it. It was common for the front door of the miller’s house, or the windmill itself, to feature a tiled image of the guild’s own patron:   Saint Barbara. We therefore suggest to look out for it while taking the inevitable backlit photograph of your favourite windmill.