Son Marroig, Deia

Country house & museum dedicated to the Archduke Ludwig Salvador

featured in Sights & sites

Of all the famous foreigners attracted to Mallorca's northwest coast, none is so admired locally as 'S'Arxiduc', Archduke Ludwig Salvador. Born in 1847 in the Pitti Palace, Florence, the son of Leopold III of Tuscany and Marie Antoinette de Bourbon, he came to Mallorca 20 years later to escape from Viennese court life and immediately fell in love with the island.

An ecologist before it was fashionable, and an eary hippy who wore Mallorcan peasant clothes, he bought up estates along the coast in an effort to save them from development, and devoted himself to studying and recording Mallorcan wildlife and traditions. His seven volume Las Baleares took 20 years to produce and is still an authority on its subject. He died in 1915 in a Bohemian castle.

The Archduke's home at Son Marroig, outside Deia, has been turned into a shrine to his memory, with his photographs, paintings and books and a museum devoted to his life. In the gardens is a white marble rotunda, made from Carrara marble and imported from Italy, where you can sit and gaze at the Na Foradada ('pierced rock') peninsula, jutting out to sea with a gaping 18-m hole at its centre. Ask at the house for permission to walk onto the peninsula.

The house plays host to concerts throughout the year.

Visitor comments

"Drove here on a sublimely sunny early Summers day. The views were heavenly especially from the home of Ludwig Salvatore. This stunningly beautiful home set in sumptuously wild gardens offers amazing views of the coastline . There is a lovely white marble temple at the end of the gardens on the cliff edge - perfection for a wedding!" - Trip Advisor
"You cannot imagine a nicer and lovelier vista! Simply breathtaking. (And of course you should visit the house of Ludwig Salvador as well.)" - Trip Advisor
"So beautiful. Visit the charming little palace which was built by the Archduke simply because he loved the views of Sa Foradada and this coastline. Stay for sunset if you are not intimidated by the challenging approach roads when it gets dark!!" - Trip Advisor