Son Marroig is a country house & museum dedicated to the Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria (1847-1915). 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 1928. 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.

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Founded: 1928
Category: Museums in Spain

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Pedja (4 months ago)
Nice view and small museum if you are passing nearby it’s worth checking.
Cori Baumann (5 months ago)
Beautiful. The drive was awesome up through the hills and towns. View spectacular. Warm in September, perfect temp.
Jaka Pregelj (6 months ago)
4€ per person to see this. It gets crowded often times but it is worth it. Nice view. You can also go to the toilets there.
Fedor Pankratov (9 months ago)
Beautiful castle, attended a wedding hosted there. Did not visit the museum. Things to improve: Catering staff was quite friendly but very poor English and low attention span. E g I’ve been ordering drinks and several times they prepared a wrong one or wrong amounts. (E g Gin & Tonic instead of Negroni). Not sure if catering staff was arranged by the castle or externally. Also during the wedding ceremony outside we were sitting on chairs; our chair was on an anthill! Ants bite quite a bit :( We were also given paper umbrellas from the sun which helps from the heat BUT you can’t see anything behind the rows of umbrellas (bride/groom/view etc). Great things: THE VIEW. Breath-taking, especially if you go out of the entrance towards a bar about 100 meters to the left, there is a nice panorama. Catering/food Not sure if that was managed by the castle or external catering firm but the food was the best one I’ve ever had on weddings. Other Was taking a Taxi from southern part of the island and Taxi drivers refused to get us there several times cause it quite far, even if we pre-ordered taxi from the hotel, which was quite frustrating.
Jamie Benge (10 months ago)
Beautiful views of the ocean and the mansion was interesting but the, gardens weren't really that spectacular tbh. The masonry was gorgeous and you could tell what it once was but today it was mostly dead plants in containers. Some were even submerged in the murky pond water.
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In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars.

The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.

From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace. From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France.

As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).

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