Miquel Ballester Julià
Campos (Mallorca) 1969. Technical Architect (UIB, 2009). Master’s Degree in Cultural Heritage: Research and Management, in the Arts and Humanities branch (UIB, 2015). PhD in Art History (UIB, 2018), Member of the Group for the Conservation of Religious Artistic Heritage (CPAR) (UIB 2015). Associate Professor at the UIB from 2009-2019.
As a university professor, he has taught the subjects of Traditional Construction, Traditional Construction Systems and Rehabilitation Projects. Professionally, he has worked as a draughtsman (1988-1992) and as an administrator in the urban planning department of the Campos Town Hall (1992-2009).
Currently, since December 1, 2009, he is a special administration official, level A2, of the Campos City Council, as a municipal technical architect.
Since 1992 he has published several articles on architecture and construction in local publications in Campos. In the area of Mallorca, he has given numerous conferences related to architecture.
He is co-author and author of various publications in the field of local history of Campos.
In relation to publications of a more general scope:
As co-author:
- Entre poc i massa la mesura pasa (2002).
As author:
- Viviendas tradicionals: Características arquitectónicas, tipológicas y constructivas de las vivienda en tierra rustica en Mallorca. 2013 (1st edition) 2015 (reissue). Ediciones UIB.
- Construction materials in Mallorca. Historical documentation (14th-18th centuries), 2017. Ediciones Lleonard Muntaner.
- Constructive evolution of the Cathedral of Mallorca: History, techniques and materials in factory books (1570-1630). 2020. UIB Editions.
As for ethnography, he has followed the family tradition started by his father, of appreciating and collecting old objects belonging to popular Mallorcan culture. This interest in old objects linked to ethnography brought him closer to local cultural entities when he was young, being the curator of different temporary exhibitions of an ethnographic nature, with objects loaned by different families and friends of Campos. Having to dismantle these exhibitions and disperse the objects that had been so difficult to locate and obtain on loan, made him consider starting his own collection.
Originally, he focused on the weights and measures of Mallorca before the metric system, which he later expanded with a collection of common ceramics, used in Mallorca from the 18th century to the present day. Finally, he began to collect trade tools and objects from the Mallorcan home. He has obtained his income from antique dealers, antique markets and donations from individuals. He has been trained through a master’s degree in cultural heritage management, in order to be able to organise a display of the collection he has compiled, providing it with scientific and technical content. He has aimed to deliver a coherent message in all aspects, both in the organization of the themes and in their chronology, trying to complete as much as possible all the elements that make up each of the sections.
He is a researcher of the ethnography of Mallorca beyond where living memory reaches, going to all kinds of thematic publications by different authors, as well as to the archives, especially the factory books of the Cathedral of Mallorca, as well as different notarial inventories, from which much information can be extracted regarding the objects of Mallorcan homes. He has visited numerous ethnographic museums as well as science museums in Spain, Europe and the world, learning the different ways there are to show and value cultural heritage.