A POINT OF ATTRACTION FOR MANY ARTISTS

Conceived as a defence point against pirates, in the early twentieth century this fortress was converted into a residence for the many artists visiting Pollença.

It cannot be visited as it is private property.

The Albercutx fortress, which commands the lower right end of Punta de la Avanzada, dates back to the seventeenth century when several structures were built to defend the Bay of Pollença from the multitude of pirate attacks it was enduring.

After the first building was constructed in 1628, a second hexagonal building was added in 1692, the base of which can be seen today. The end of the piracy threat in the late nineteenth century made the fortress redundant, although in the early twentieth century a lighthouse was built on the tip of this small headland.

But the heyday of the Fortaleza de Albercutx was to come in the first third of the twentieth century, when Argentinian painter Roberto Ramaugé, who came to the area with the prominent Catalan Post-impressionist artist Hermenegildo Anglada Camarassa, bought the building and turned it into a luxury residence to house the colony of artists who between the 1920s and early 30s had settled in Pollença, attracted by its natural light and inspiring scenery.

This came to an abrupt end after the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), as the fortress was commandeered by the Spanish Air Force, turning part of it into a seaplane base and returning the site to its original military use, a reason why Ramaugé and many other artists decided to leave Mallorca. The property was handed back to Ramagué's heirs in 1984 but then changed hands in 2011, being sold for an amount that has not been revealed but could be around 40 million euros, which would make it one of Spain's most expensive properties.

In November 2022, the Norwegian tycoon Ivar Tollefsen bought the Fortress for NOK 650 million (about EUR 61.8 million) from the British investment fund led by James Lupton.