11th March 2025

En vacances – Museo Sa Bassa Blanca

Lindy Garden updates drought tolerant shrubs, En vacances, Mallorca, pruning 0 Comments

If any of you have visited this extraordinary museum you will be amazed I have not included all the art you will find here.

But this is a gardening blog. And I will sneak some in later. But the discovery should be yours.

First up. What on earth is it? The official website’s English translation is tantalisingly absent when it comes to the history of this museum.

But in a nutshell. Vietnamese French artist meets and falls in love with an Italian artist. He dies tragically young. She then marries his close friend Ben. Another artist. But crucially, also from a banking family. They move to Mallorca. They invite a famous Egyptian architect to create a masterpiece of a building.

And then they spend the rest of their days (and are still alive – living half the year in Morocco and half in this house) making art. Collecting art, displaying art.

https://www.msbb.org/en

Art, nature and architecture coexist harmoniously in a Museum designed to awaken your senses.

I think I have spent more time reading about the founders of the museum Yannick Vu and Ben Jakober than actually exploring their work.

Here are some links.

If I can find a way not to embed the links… you may need to scroll and scroll… (I have a rogue bit of editing I can’t resolve.)

Ben Jakober, Yannick Vu and the legacy of the Sa Bassa Blanca Museum

And the incredible architect. https://www.msbb.org/en/spaces/hassan-fathy-building/architecture

Here is a list of the buildings he is famous for .. but the house museum does not feature. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/know-your-architects/a425-15-projects-by-hassan-fathy/

But on with the landscape. Pistacia lentiscus grooming.

Excellent hedgery.

This is the sort of hedge clipping that always baffles me. How do my viburnum tinus, rosemary and pistacia lentiscus shrubs resist this sort of tortured grooming? Maybe I’m too kind. Or lazy.

But I do admire the result.

And those pittosporum… dreamy. I am definitely going to try and give them a go.

I did actually do a bit of sneaky harvesting this week by the beach.

And we have some rogue ones in the forest above the farmhouse.

But on with the landscape here.

I came back the next day with Anou to explore more of the museum. And this gorgeous fluffy ground cover under the olives were being scalped. So I’m glad I captured it in all its unrestrained glory.