illustrated hotel label, boats on the sea in front of a port landscape and plants in the foreground.
Stāsts

Vintage Ibiza: Discover the 'white island' before tourism

Explore vintage photographs of the Spanish island, Ibiza from the early 20th century

autors
Europeana Foundation

The Spanish island Ibiza is well known to tourists these days for its nightlife: exciting bars, daring nightclubs and soulful dance music.

Beyond the dance beats and beaches, history and heritage dating back hundreds and thousands of years is waiting to be discovered.

This blogs looks at vintage photography and artworks depicting Ibiza before tourism, exploring the Mediterranean island's past.

black and white photograph of a town by the sea.
black and white photograph, a city and port by a bay.
black and white photograph of a small lighthouse on a rocky island.

These photographs were taken by German Hans Praesent during a trip in 1909.

This view of the city and port of Ibiza was taken from the bastion.

This lighthouse was located in front of Ibiza city.

Ibiza is known as the White Island, now used as a tourist slogan, inspired by the island's white architecture.

Such buildings can be seen in these vintage photographs, which date from around the early 20th century, and are part of the collections of the Ajuntament de Girona.

black and white photograph, a large monument on a city street.
black and white photograph, white stone houses.
black and white photograph, a person walking in a street lined with white-washed buildings.

Passeig de Vara de Rey is the widest promenade in the city, and dates from the late 19th century.

These houses are described as being typical houses in Ibiza at the time of the photographs being taken.

A woman walks among the buildings.

Estonian artist and drawing teacher Juhan Nõmmik produced these artworks depicting Ibiza architecture and landscapes in the 1960s.

watercolour showing low-rise white buildings among trees.
watercolour with low buildings and trees in a row along the horizon.
watercolour, with a low building on the horizon alongside a group of trees, the sky has been coloured green.

Nommik depicts the white houses of Ibiza with a low horizon.

The artworks give a sense of Ibiza far from the tourist crowds.

Nõmmik's artworks are now part of the collections of the Tartu Art Museum.

This pair of lithographs feature the coast of Ibiza, and date from after 1896.

artwork featuring a boat on a still sea with a mountainous landscape in the background.
artwork featuring boats on the sea with mountainous landscape in the background.

This artwork features the island's southeast coast.

This artwork features the north coast of Ibiza.