Archduke Ludwig Salvator, the Austrian Who Wrote Mallorca
In the summer of 1867, a young man barely twenty years old stepped ashore in Mallorca with a very specific plan: to write a book about beetles. He brought notebooks, specimen jars and the curiosity of someone raised among palaces and libraries. That book on insects was never written. Instead, Ludwig Salvator of Habsburg-Lorraine found an island that would hold on to him, on and off, for almost half a century.
To Mallorcans he has always been s'Arxiduc, simply that, with the article and no other name. Few figures from abroad inspire such unanimous affection here.
A prince without a throne
He was born on 4 August 1847 in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the son of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Italian unification forced the family into exile in 1859, and they sought refuge in the Austrian Empire. From then on his life became one long journey across Europe. He came to speak fourteen languages.
Everything pointed towards a career at the Viennese court, yet he chose the Mediterranean. He sailed its coasts aboard the Nixe, a yacht he skippered himself, noting down everything: the shape of a cove, the name of a plant, the words of a song heard in some harbour.
Miramar, the first estate
In January 1872 he bought Miramar, near Valldemossa. He knew of the place from his reading on Ramon Llull, who had founded a school of languages there in the 13th century. It was the first of many properties. In 1877 he acquired Son Marroig, facing the pierced rock of Sa Foradada, and had a jetty built for the Nixe. Estate by estate, he came to own almost the entire coastline between Valldemossa and Deià.
He did not buy land to exploit it, but to protect it. The painter Santiago Rusiñol used to say that not a single branch could be cut on his estates. Meanwhile, he opened bridle paths and clifftop viewpoints, designed for unhurried walks with the sea in sight. Many are still walked today.
Die Balearen, the island described word by word
His great work is titled Die Balearen in Wort und Bild geschildert, "The Balearics Described in Words and Pictures". He published it in several volumes between 1869 and 1891, dedicating the first to Emperor Franz Joseph. It is a meticulous portrait of the archipelago. It records landscapes, crops, houses and trades, but also how many weddings were held, how many children went to school and what illnesses people suffered from. Many of the engravings were drawn by his own hand.
In 1878 the work won a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition. Today it is regarded as the first modern geography of the islands. It also had an effect its author may not have foreseen: it awakened the curiosity of European high society, which began to see the Balearics as a destination worth knowing. The local press of the time started using a new French word, tourisme.
The poet Josep Maria Llompart described him as an encyclopaedic scholar destined for adventures worthy of a Jules Verne character. It is hard to think of a better description.
Where his presence lives on
His legacy can still be visited. The house at Son Marroig is now a museum holding his photographs, books and personal belongings, and from the small temple in the garden Sa Foradada stands out against the water. At Miramar, another museum remembers him alongside Llull. For those who prefer to walk, the Camí de l'Arxiduc runs along the heights above Valldemossa, following one of the paths he laid out himself. The cool November air makes it especially pleasant.
The Balearic Government's official site devoted to the Archduke contains his full biography. Illes Balears Travel suggests a route through his places, and the Serra de Tramuntana Consortium places him in the landscape he helped to preserve.
From the south-west to the Archduke's coast
From Port d'Andratx, the Ma-10 road climbs north through the Tramuntana. It passes Estellencs and Banyalbufar, with the sea always on the left, before reaching Valldemossa and Deià. It makes a day trip that pairs well with a stroll around Valldemossa or, for those wanting more mountain, the climb to Castell d'Alaró.
Back at the hotel, the Mon Port spa awaits with warm water and silence. It is a way to round off the day that the Archduke, so fond of simple pleasures, would surely have approved of. All the information about your stay is on the hotel website.
