Bellver Castle is a Gothic-style fortification. It is located about three kilometers from the city of Palma de Mallorca, on the island of Mallorca, Spain. It was built at the beginning of the 14th century by order of King Jaime II of Mallorca. It is located on a hill 112 meters above sea level, in an area surrounded by forest, from where you can see the city, the port, the Tramuntana mountains and the Pla de Mallorca; in fact, its name comes from the old Catalan bell veer, which means "beautiful view."

One of its peculiarities is that it is one of the few castles in all of Europe with a circular plant, being the oldest of these. Currently it belongs to the Palma City Council, and it houses the Palma City History Museum, which is why it is open to the public.

The main part of the fortification was built by the architect Pere Salvà, who also worked on the Almudaina Palace, with other master builders between 1300 and 1311 for Jaime II.

For its construction, a good part of the stone was extracted from a cave-quarry on the same mountain, below the fortification, which has caused cracks in the building. When harder stone was needed, it was brought from Portals Vells (Calviá) and Santañí.

At the beginning, the castle carried out the residential functions for which it was built, in the time of Kings Jaime II, Sancho and Jaime III of Mallorca.

King Juan I of Aragon also inhabited it, fleeing the plague that attacked the continent (1394).

In the seventeenth century it was the sporadic residence of some viceroys.

As a fortification it also suffered different sieges. The first in the year 1343, during the campaign of reincorporation of the kingdom of Majorca to the Crown of Aragon, by Pedro the Ceremonious; the next, in 1391, during the revolt against the Call; and the last, the year 1521, in which it suffered the only assault in its history, during the rebellion of the Germanías.

As an enclosure, since the 14th century it was used as a prison, first by Queen Violante and princes Jaime and Isabel and other supporters of King Jaime III, after his death in the battle of Lluchmayor (1349). During the War of the Spanish Succession, by Philipists, and, after the Bourbon victory, by Austracists.

Already in the 20th century, with the advent of the Second Republic, the castle and its surroundings were ceded to the Palma City Council on the condition that it be used as a museum of ancient art, as suggested by the council itself.

During the Civil War it regained its use as a prison, locking up in the castle up to 800 republican prisoners, who were employed as forced labor in the construction of the current access road to the castle. Among these prisoners were Alexandre Jaume, who as a deputy had obtained the transfer of the castle to the city, and Emili Darder, mayor at the time of the transfer; both were shot later.

After the postwar period, the City Council resumed efforts to convert the castle into cultural use, for which in 1947 the in-depth reforms began, culminating in the inauguration in 1976 of the Museum of the History of the City of Palma.