The building
The Museu de Menorca is located on one of the city’s most emblematic sites: the former Convent of Jesus. Founded in 1459, it was the first convent of the Franciscan Order in the city of Maó. Destroyed in 1535 by a Turkish attack, construction of the new Convent of Sant Francesc was completed in the early 18th century on the same site. Still today we can enjoy its magnificent yet austere Baroque cloister.
Following the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of 1835, the building’s purpose was altered. In the late 19th century it was used as a House of Mercy, and was subsequently converted into a naval school, for eventual use as a secondary school.
In the year 1998, the Museu de Menorca was moved into the old convent following its restoration.