The Archduke of Austria (1847-1915) is considered the precursor of tourism in the Balearic Islands. The first time he came to Mallorca was in 1867, traveling incognito under the name of Count of Neudorf. Later, in love with the landscape and the people of the island, he took up his archducal residence at the property La Estaca, one of the properties he acquired in his years of residence.
Great scholar and patron, he is the author of Die Balearen, a magnificent work which describes in detail the archipelago as it was in the late nineteenth century. In the Interpretation Centre of the Sierra de Tramuntana of Costa Nord in Valldemossa, you can see a faithful reproduction of Nixe, the sailing boat in which he traveled around the world.
To commemorate the centenary of his death, to be held in 2015, the Institute of Balearic Studies prepares a major exhibition curated by writer Carme Riera. In anticipation of this event, the Royal Academy of Mallorcan Historical Studies, in collaboration with the Association of Friends of the Archduke, this series of conferences organized around his figure and his program is as follows:
07.02: S'Arxiduc, referent de l' imaginari illenc (Archduke reference of the imaginary Islander), by Carme Riera.
27.02: The passionate love for a small island. The Archduke and Mallorca, by historian Helga Schwendinger.
27.03: L' Arxiduc, political regionalism and Reinaxença in Mallorca, by historian Román Piña Homs.
24.04: Geopolitical coordinates of the mediterranean mission of Archduke Luis Salvador by academic José María Sevilla Marcos.
26.06: The Education of Luis Salvador, a Habsburg prince, by Wolfgang Löhnert, president of the Ludwig Salvator -Gesellschaft in Vienna.
25.09: L' Arxiduc, art, etnografia i paisatgisme, segons la visió d'un mecenas by investigator Jaume Llabrés.
30.10: The Mediterranean of the Archduke 100 years later. Results of the project Nixe III, by researcher Juan Ramis. Pujol.
