Museu Sa Bassa Blanca - Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober

The outstanding feature of Sa Bassa Blanca is undoubtedly the building designed by Hassan Fathy (Cairo,1900-1989). He was already 78 years old and had never built anything in Western Europe when he drew up the plans of the Hispano Moresque building, which he called a “ribat”, retaining only the outside walls of an existing farmhouse of the property. White crenellated walls, traditional vaults and domes punctuate the otherwise flat terraces of the edifice sur- rounding a central courtyard with gardens and fountains. Most windows are covered by wooden lattices called “mushrabeyehs” and the doors and floor tiling are antique elements brought from Andalucía, Northern Spain and Morocco. The existing “Aljibe” or underground water reservoir was transformed into an exhibition space in 1994 and in 2007 the new underground area “Sokrates” was brought into service. Neither competes with the architecture of the great Hassan Fathy.