Gambling, as Jaume Munar recounts, was a constant practice at the Círculo throughout its history. On the one hand, it was a practice not well regarded, if not directly prohibited. But it was possible to practice it discreetly behind the walls of the Palau Reial. On the other hand, it was an essential source of income for the entity.The board of directors of the Círculo was careful to foster the turning of a blind eye by the authorities: they made them honorary members, invited them to activities, and contributed money to their initiatives. Nevertheless, tolerance was not complete. As early as 1887, there was a raid on its headquarters, and the money and decks of cards were confiscated. Around 1904, a fine of 500 pesetas, a lot of money at the time, was imposed for this prohibited activity.At other times, the situation was very different. Members of the entity recount that a civil governor was a compulsive gambler and a regular visitor, to the point that it was his wife who filed a complaint. This surreal situation is reminiscent of Captain Renault in Casablanca, when he exclaims, "What a scandal! I've discovered that gambling is going on here!", which made everyone in Rick's cafe, starting with himself, react.The new Francoist regime looked the other way regarding gambling. In 1977, a bingo hall was installed at the Círculo, the furniture of which was initially used for the session room when the Parliament was installed there.True fortunes changed hands at the Círculo. The grandfather of a current member lost 35 properties playing roulette, and others lost land, houses, businesses, and jewelry. However, with rigor: some, when they went there, already carried the deeds of the possessions they were gambling with.
Mallorcan Circle: more than a club
175 years since the founding of the entity that gathered the Majorcan high society over decades
PalmaThe reader who has passed through what is now the Parliament can imagine it, when it was the headquarters of the Círculo Mallorquín, as a kind of those British clubs from novels and films, where distinguished gentlemen share conversation, while having a coffee, smoking a cigar, and playing cards. Certainly, it resembled it quite a bit. But the Círculo, founded on August 25, 1851 (175 years ago), was much more than that: a venue for balls and parties, a hub for cultural initiatives, a meeting place for personalities, and, above all, an essential reference for the island's high society, for decades.
The Círculo was born from the merger of two entities: the Liceo Mallorquín and the Casino Balear. The latter, thanks to a lottery ticket winning in 1847, had launched an ambitious project: the construction of a building on the current Conqueridor street in the city, on a plot that had previously been the convent of Sant Domingo. This would be the headquarters of the Círculo from its inception until 1983, when it was sold to the Parliament, then barely constituted.
As Román Piña Homs observes, the Círculo was born from the meeting of two different sensibilities: the more progressive one of the Casino and the one of the Liceo, "of more pedigree." The Casino had to "show an image of an elitist group," to be on par with its merger partners.
On August 25, 1851, the presidents of each of the entities signed the merger. Agustín Sorà, from the Casino, and Pedro Le Senne – this surname will surely sound familiar to readers – from the Liceo. A common new name was agreed upon as Liceo Balear, but it was soon set aside for that of Círculo Mallorquín.
The identification that has always been accepted of the Círculo with the most conservative positions is not very accurate. Among the founding members were democrats and republicans. Antoni Villalonga Pérez, an essential reference for republican ideas in Mallorca, was one of its presidents, and another, the lawyer Miquel Ignasi Perelló i Socies, who firmly opposed the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1875. The precursor of autonomism, Miquel dels Sants Oliver, was a member.
The future mayor of Palma, Emili Darder, was the entity's librarian, although it is true that he had to resign due to the board's disagreement with some of his acquisitions. In Darder's trial, which would conclude with his assassination in 1937, it was used against him that he had bought works in Catalan for the entity. The feminist professor Cèlia Viñas was also a library assistant in the forties.
The library, with 20,000 volumes, was a pillar of the entity: a large space, illuminated by a skylight. Joan Alcover went there every day to read the newspaper. Llorenç Villalonga was another regular. Ernest Gaubert wrote part of his novel La mallorquina, with an excess of imagination, according to Màrius Verdaguer: he recounted how the members of the Círculo threw verbal "little flowers" at the women who passed by, when they were "already mature, calm gentlemen" who were not going around flirting.
Politics and women
The Círculo did not seek many problems with political upheavals. In its lounges, Alfonso XIII was received with all honors – twice – but also Niceto Alcalá Zamora, president of the II Republic, and the dictator Franco. The royal visits caused so many expenses that this is where the famous expression "what should be done will be done and what is owed will be owed" from a board member comes from. But the situation of '36 did poison the atmosphere: on July 18, the Círculo was the object of an attempted assault by supporters of the Republic, and that same night it was also one of the gathering places for the coup plotters.
Although the presidents of the Círculo abound with the surnames of the Mallorcan aristocracy, the entity admitted members of the bourgeoisie, and even xuetes, those of the 15 surnames considered the only descendants of converted Jews due to a false construction that lasted for centuries, when many more Mallorcans were and are. Probably, the woman Obdúlia from Mort de dama, by Llorenç Villalonga, refers to them when she laments: “At the Círculo, only riff-raff go (...) I’m not saying we can’t all go to heaven, we’ll see, but at the Círculo, only decent people should be admitted.”
Urban legend claims that the smuggler Joan March had not been admitted as a member of the Círculo and that he would have built his palace right next door for revenge. But, as Munar points out, in ‘Verga’ he was not only a member but also provided financial support to the entity. His son Joan and his wife, Carme Delgado, met at a costume party organized by the Círculo.
In line with the prevailing male chauvinism of the time, the Círculo barred women from entry. They could only access the lobby, except, of course, for parties, dances, and cultural activities. In 1928, a proposal was presented for their admission, with the aim of increasing revenue through their fees, but it was not even debated. However, there was the honorary category of distinguished female member.
When the admission of women was reconsidered in the 70s, a member, the writer, journalist, and editor Lluís Ripoll, expressed his disagreement with an irrefutable argument: men precisely went to the Círculo to escape their wives for a while, and they could rest assured, because they would not find other women there. In 1981, they were finally admitted, and currently represent 50% of the associates.
Carme Riera in a long inn
The history of the Círculo, as explained by Jaume Munar, was a constant alternation between periods of prosperity and others of economic hardship. Nevertheless, the construction of the emblematic Hall of the Caryatids, with decoration by Ricard Anckermann, went ahead, although it was the subject of criticism from the newspaper El Áncora for “certain figures that are to be worn, and make one fear that virtue will be frightened away from that place”. Towards the end of the 19th century, the entity undertook a thorough renovation, with the construction of a new facade.
The Hall of the Caryatids, which today hosts parliamentary sessions, served as a stage for parties and balls, among which were debutante balls, society presentations of young ladies from good families in the 1960s. Among them, that of the writer Carme Riera, then only 17 years old: “I had a great time,” she recalls. “I have a positive memory” of that experience.
The Círculo also developed a significant cultural activity: conferences, exhibitions, and a painting competition, and concerts. It had a philharmonic section and another for literature. Tributes were paid to authors such as Oscar Wilde and Arthur Rimbaud; although the one for Rimbaud, held in 1954, had to be postponed because it coincided with the slaughter at the home of the poet Guillem Colom. On the other hand, cultural personalities such as Antoni Maria Alcover and Miquel Costa i Llobera, being priests at the same time, did not set foot in the Palau Reial building, due to its excessively worldly character.
In 1919, there was a certain uproar when Bartomeu Ferrà exhibited there and announced it with a poster in Catalan, for which he was accused of being a “separatist” by some members and the poster was removed. Shortly thereafter, however, in the 1920s, the Círculo hosted activities of the Association for the Culture of Mallorca and, around the 1950s, in the midst of Francoism, prominent names in favor of Catalan culture intervened there, such as Josep Maria Llompart, Bernat Vidal i Tomàs, Blai Bonet, and Manuel Sanchis Guarner.
Another significant aspect of the entity was its donations to charitable causes and entities. Some as predictable as the one made in the midst of the war for the monument to the cruiser Baleares at La Feixina in Palma. And others as curious as the one granted, years ago, to the striking bricklayers.
With the rapid social transformations, the Círculo fell into decline and, with significant debt, sold its historic headquarters in 1983 and moved to a new location, Can Sancho, on Concepció de Ciutat street. Here it continues its activities, currently under the presidency of Ignacio Deyá Frutos, with 375 associates and the legacy of a long and turbulent history that is now approaching two centuries of trajectory.
Information compiled from texts by Jaume Munar Arrom, Màrius Verdaguer, Julio Sanmartín Perea, Román Piña Homs, Catalina Martorell Fullana, Dolors Ladaria, Catalina Ensenyat, Josep Pla, Maria Antònia Perelló Femenia, Josep Massot i Muntaner and Félix Pons.