Spain. Balearic Islands. Minorca (Menorca). Mahon. Night time. Old town. Plaça (Place) de la Conquesta. The statue of the King Alfonso III and the " Santa Maria de Maò" church. Alfonso III (4 November 1265, in Valencia – 18 June 1291), called the Liberal or the Free, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1285. He conquered Menorca - until then, an autonomous Muslim state (Manûrqa) within the Kingdom of Majorca - on 17 January 1287, the anniversary of which now serves as Menorca's national holiday. Dante Alighieri, in the Divine Comedy, recounts that he saw Alfonso's spirit seated outside the gates of Purgatory with the other monarchs whom Dante blamed for the chaotic political state of Europe during the 13th century. Maó (in Catalan) and Mahón (in Spanish), written in English as Mahon, is a municipality, the capital city of the island of Menorca, and seat of the Island Council of Menorca. The city is located on the eastern coast of the island, which is part of the autonomous community of the Balearic. In Spain, an autonomous community is a first-level political and administrative division, created in accordance with the Spanish constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy of the nationalities and regions that make up Spain. 7.09.2019 © 2019 Didier Ruef