He was born in Barcelona, of French and Cuban origin, raised in the Philippines, emigrated to Sweden, acquired Swedish nationality, and, by his own wish, was buried in Mallorca. Ernest Dethorey was, in the Balearic Islands a century ago, the chronicler of culture and also of the then-incipient tourism. We remember him as 125 years have passed since his birth, on September 13, 1901.

He is known as the ‘wise and good king’ and, periodically, current political leaders pay tribute to him at his tomb in the Cathedral of Mallorca, in commemoration of September 12th (a date established as the new Day of Mallorca), the day he swore to uphold the island's liberties and franchises. Was he really that good, the good King James II? This is the question we ask ourselves as 750 years have passed since his coronation, around September 1276.

To be scorned, insulted, or even attacked; this is what the Xuetes endured for three centuries, the bearers of the fifteen surnames pointed out by the rest of the Majorcans as the sole descendants of Jews converted to Christianity. They did not always endure it stoically: two of them, Gabriel Fuster and Ignasi Forteza, expelled from a ball, took their discrimination to court and won the lawsuit, called 'of Cartagena' due to the jurisdiction that took charge of it. 175 years ago, on September 1, 1851, the defendants decided to appoint a representative to pursue that case.

The 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.

They are two towers, like the title of Tolkien's novel of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings: one Islamic; the other, from after the conquest. Two towers, with a central body added in the 19th century. They are known as the towers of the Temple or Almudaina de Gumara. Their origin is, of course, defensive. But Gumara will no longer fight: the Palma City Council plans to open them to the public to be a museum space. They will do so, the officials assure, once the rehabilitation works are completed, in 2027, twenty years after acquiring the building.

“Speak to me, O Muse, of the man of many turns, who wandered far...”. No one would ever have thought that the Odyssey, a 2,700-year-old classic, would unleash heated controversies on social media, as it is doing, thanks to Christopher Nolan's recent film adaptation. For the islanders, there is still another point of interest in Homer's story: whether its hero, Odysseus – or Ulysses – passed through any of the Balearic Islands, during his decade of journeys across the Mediterranean, after the Trojan War – ten more years – to return to his home island, Ithaca. Perhaps he did?

Expectation? People coming from abroad to witness a very infrequent phenomenon? Nothing new. Another August, but this one 121 years ago, Mallorca became an international focus of attraction for a total solar eclipse, with the presence of six scientific collectives from four countries and three hundred Italian tourists who traveled expressly to the island to witness this exceptional phenomenon. It was August 30, 1905, at noon.

Two members of the family of the princes of Monaco were allies of James III in his frustrated attempt to recover lost Mallorca. And another became lord of Carlat, an enclave that had been part of the ‘kingdom in the middle of the sea’. A few Grimaldis, for that is their lineage, have visited the island until recent times. Let's review the links between these two corners of the Mediterranean; Monaco and Mallorca, taking as a motif that the Club de Mar in Palma hosts, until August 6, an exhibition on the connections between that territory and the Spanish monarchy.

The 16th Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest (AMFF) takes place in Palma from July 24 to August 2, with over a hundred premieres, concerts, and international guests such as Gael García Bernal and Alexandre Desplat. In contrast, the online edition on the Filmin platform extends until August 24. Below, we highlight some of the most notable proposals of this edition of the AMFF.

The Atlàntida Film Fest reaches its sixteenth edition with an intense trajectory, which has taken it from being a pioneering and unusual experience, an online film showcase, to becoming one of the benchmark events in the country: first position among festivals held in the summer, second best-rated among all events, according to data from the Ministry of Culture. Like any relevant film festival, a good number of stars have walked through its openings and closings: Liv Ullmann, Michael Douglas, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Isabelle Huppert, Joseph Fiennes, Britt Ekland… This year, Gael García Bernal, Javier and Carlos Bardem, Fernando Trueba, Jaime Chávarri, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and the Mallorcan actress Victoria Luengo, among others.

No other monarch has been so mythologized, idealized, and glorified as James I the Conqueror –well, perhaps the emeritus king, in his good times–: knight king, warrior, valiant, sensible, wise, generous, good Christian... Of course, of all this, half of half, and more in reference to women, whom he used and abandoned when they no longer served his interests. We recall the private life of James I as the 750th anniversary of his death, in 1276, is being commemorated – on July 27th.

He was Aragonese, from inland, but a long sea voyage, including a visit to the Islands, revealed his vocation: the study of the sea, oceanography, of which he was a pioneer in Spain by creating and directing the Oceanographic Laboratory of the Balearic Islands, the second in the State and an international reference. It was the final stages of his career when in July 1936, 90 years ago, he was arrested in Mallorca and imprisoned until August of the following year.

They didn't know it would be the beginning of a war that would last three years. It was supposed to be a coup d'état, supposedly to save Spain from a supposed communist revolution. Not everyone was fascist either, even though they were generally called that. The fact is that elements of the army, of a very minority Falange and of the right, also the Carlists, prepared in Mallorca – not very discreetly – that revolt against the legitimate authority of the II Republic, which broke out in July 1936, 90 years ago.

They were venues of intense cultural activity and are currently closed, unused. While grandiose projects are announced, such as the transformation of the Gesa building into a major cultural infrastructure, spaces like the Assistència Palmesana, La Protectora, the Catalina Valls theater, the Balear theater, or the old Centre de Sa Nostra, all of them in Palma; the Sala Augusta in Maó; and the Dalt Vila Archaeological Museum, among others, are sleeping the sleep of the just, awaiting recovery.

Almost a hundred Menorcan privateering ships hindered Spain and France from helping the American colonists in the revolt against the British, led by George Washington, who would be the first president of the United States and would give his name to the capital. The islanders, and specifically the Menorcans, played a prominent and perhaps not very well-known role in the early days of the USA, which celebrates on Saturday, July 4, 250 years of its declaration of independence, in 1776.The revolt of the inhabitants of the 13 colonies was not an isolated event. On the one hand, it stemmed from the certainly groundbreaking ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers, such as Voltaire and his peers. On the other hand, from a previous conflict, the Seven Years' War, between France and Spain on one side and Great Britain on the other, in which the colonists had supported the metropolis, but for the expenses of which – wars are always expensive – it wanted them to pay the bill. This led to the rupture of hostilities in 1775 and the unilateral declaration of independence the following year.

He declared himself excited to visit the land of Juníper Serra and satisfied to combat, in good camaraderie, with the Franco dictatorship, against international communism. 70 years ago, at the beginning of the summer of 1956, who was then Vice President of the United States, Richard Nixon, made a lightning visit to Mallorca to meet with the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and, as a good tourist, to swim for a while on the beach.

He was short, but energetic. And, above all, he was loyal to the constitutional legality. The Majorcan military man Valerià Weyler did not like it at all that his colleague Miguel Primo de Rivera staged a coup d'état and became a dictator, with the approval of the monarch of the time, Alfonso XIII. He disliked it so much that, a century ago, in June 1926, at the age of 87, he led an attempt to overthrow Primo de Rivera and return to normality: the 'Santjoanada', so named because it was to take place on the 24th, Saint John's Day.

It was known as Operation Roca after its leader, Miquel Roca, a prominent figure in Catalan politics. And it was a failed attempt to revive a centrist party, after the disappearance of Unió de Centre Democràtic (UCD). Forty years ago, in June 1986, the Reformist Party ran in the general elections, with the participation of Unió Mallorquina (UM) and Unió Democràtica de Menorca (UDM) in the Balearic Islands, on that strange platform where the main leader did not even run under the common acronyms, but under those of Convergència i Unió, in Catalonia. Its failure is probably explained because no one understood this.

He has always been multifaceted: poet, narrator, playwright, reciter, biologist, journalist, literary prescriber, creator and director of the Mediterranean Poetry Festival, eternal activist for various causes. Biel Mesquida received last Monday, June 8, in the incomparable setting of the Palau de la Música, in Barcelona, the Honor Award for Catalan Literature, awarded by Òmnium Cultural. This Mallorcan, born in Castelló in 1947, began his career in 1973 with L’adolescent de sal, banned for two years by censorship. He has just published a new poetry collection at La Breu, Trast.

He reached 95 years of age and was absolutely prolific. Josep Costa Ferrer, nicknamed Picarol, was an excellent draftsman and satirical cartoonist, a specialist in art and antiques, an amateur archaeologist, a gallery owner, also a pioneer of tourism and landscape defense, and even the creator of a utopian urbanization. Ibiza will remember him with an exhibition this summer, when it is 150 years since his birth, on June 7, 1876. That was the beginning of a life path that would culminate in Cala d’Or, Mallorca, after a North American adventure in Chicago.