Its strength is the strength of the impenetrable circle. A characteristic that it shares with other castles in Europe, including Restormel (France) and Michelstetten (Austria). The Mallorcan king, Jaime II, ordered the building of Bellver Castle in the fourteenth century, and quickly made it his
royal palace. The parade ground, the three great defence towers and and the keep which is connected to the complex via an arch, are all circular. Through its long history it has witnessed some noteworthy sieges in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was long used as a prison, with such illustrious guests as Queen Violante, the intellectual Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, and the soldier and politician Arsenio Martinez Campos, restorer of the Bourbon monarchy in Spain. During the Civil War, Republicans, eight hundred prisoners were confined within its walls.

Today much of the castle can be visited. It houses the city museum, with exhibitions on the history of Palma de Mallorca from the first settlers to the Middle Ages; it is also frequently used for cultural activities and civic events. The surrounding forest where, on the second Sunday in Lent, the locals celebrate the Diumenge de l'Angel in honour of the guardian angels of the city, is another of its attractions.