ABSTRACT
The Llotja of Palma de Mallorca is a late medieval building built in the gothic style. Llotja in Catalan means "exchange," and as its name suggests, the Llotja served as a stock exchange mainly for merchants engaged in maritime trade. Due to the identity of its patron and its innovative character, the Llotja provides a rare opportunity to examine the manner in which the architecture of trade expresses, or better put, negotiates, the identity or self-perception of the fifteenth-century merchant class. In the eyes of many prominent historiographical studies, fifteenth-century merchants are cast as the forerunners and "heroes of self-centered modernity," humanism, and individualism. The church-like appearance of an important building commissioned by the merchant guild contrasts with the view of merchants as a driving force of "secularism." The merchant guild chose St. Nicholas to mediate this connection because St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors and merchants.
