By Ahmed Elyamani and Pere Roca
ABSTRACT
Mallorca cathedral is one of the largest ever built cathedrals in the world. When compared with all other
Gothic cathedrals in the world, it is found that its columns have the highest slenderness ratio, its main nave
span is the second longest after Girona cathedral, and its main nave is the third highest after those of
Beauvais and Milan cathedrals. The preservation of the cathedral was always of concern due to its audacious
dimensions and slender structural members. About one century ago, a pioneering structural assessment was
carried out by Rubió. Since then, and up to date, a relevant number of studies have been carried out on this
cathedral and covered many aspects such as the history of construction, the characterization of the
construction materials, the seismic assessment, the static and the dynamic monitoring, and the investigation
of the foundation soil, among others. The objective of this article is to review these studies making focus on
their main conclusions that are relevant for future studies on the cathedral and other similar historical
structures.
