La parroquia de «Sant Francesc» de Ciutadella tiene sus orígenes en el convento de frailes menores o franciscanos fundado por Alfonso III de Aragón justo después de la conquista de Menorca. In fact, on March 1, 1287, when the monarch was still on the island, he granted the guardians of the Franciscans or minor friars of Barcelona and the city council of Mallorca some inheritances in Ciutadella with the condition that they build a convent and that some friars reside there. These inheritances consisted of the garden that had belonged to the Rais Abu Umar and some houses. The arrival of the first friars must have been almost immediate. In 1290 the guardian of the convent was Fray Berenguer de Lledó. We know nothing about this first Franciscan convent, although it has left us a tombstone (currently in the Diocesan Museum) of Guillem Pere de Vilafreser, lieutenant of the royal treasurer, who had been buried in San Franci sc in July 1294.   Desde el principio el convento de Sant Francesc tuvo importancia en la vida religiosa y social de Ciutadella. Thus, in 1301 an important session of the University of Menorca was held with the lawyers of Jaume II of Mallorca, in which the terms of the restructuring of the real estate regime were agreed. During the 14th century, on Christmas Eve, the university’s positions were renewed. As for the affiliation of the Ciutadella convent within the Franciscan order, it passed from the cloistered branch to the observers. The common trunk of the order of the younger brothers, founded by the Pobrissó of Assisi in 1209, who had Sister Poverty as a reference, had divided into several branches. The convent of Ciutadella belonged to the group of cloisters until 1504, when the reform began to move to that of the observers, that is, they followed the government of Saint Francis more closely, especially te with respect to detachment from material goods, instead of the more lax conventual ones.   La configuración exacta del convento medieval es desconocida para nosotros. We know that the church had a nave divided into four sections and an apse and occupied part of the space of the current temple. Next door, on the west side, was the convent building. An orchard of notable extension occupied what today are the streets “Nou de Juliol” and “Joan Benejam”, up to the “Plaça dels Pins”, there was no city wall. This convent was seriously damaged in the Ottoman assault on Ciutadella (July 1558), so it was considered necessary to rebuild both the church and the convent. Work on the church began in December 1569 and was completed three years later. However, soon (1581) it was decided to expand the temple. On this occasion, the works lasted until 1607. The church, with a single nave, covered with a vault and side chapels between buttresses, was inspired by Gothic patterns, although always within great simplicity and ornamental austerity.   Durante el siglo XVII se construyó el convento, mientras que se llevaron a cabo algunas reformas y se añadieron a la iglesia, como el coro (1613), el portal lateral que da a la calle la «Puríssima» y el más large that opened in the «Plaça des Born» (1681-84). Of these baroque portals, the work of master Pere Amorós, only the first remains, since the main portal was replaced at the beginning of the 19th century by the neoclassical one that can be seen today. In this same reform it was decided to extend the church, so the original apse disappeared, replaced by the transept covered with a dome and a new apse (1808). Later (1831), the ambulatory was built behind the altar. The reform of the first years of the 19th century broke the harmony of the temple nave. The result was a disproportionate church, too long in relation to its width. During the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, the Convent of Sant Francesc continued to play an important social and cultural function (grammar and theology school, pharmacy, etc.) and was the preferred place ted by citizens when choosing burial, both inside the temple and in the cloister. In 1835, however, applying the decree of ecclesiastical confiscation, the convent was extinguished and its assets became property of the State. The church remained open to worship and in 1877 it was erected as a parish, while the convent had different uses until the colonial-style Cabrisses house was built, later replaced by the building mail io. The garden, on the other hand, was developed after 1865.   Durante julio de 1936, en los primeros días de la Guerra Civil, la iglesia fue saqueada y cerrada, por lo que las imágenes y retablos y órgano, obra del órgano suizo Johann Kyburz (1813) se perdieron. Just finished, and while the cathedral was under construction, it hosted cathedral worship, returning in 1941 to perform only the functions of a parish church.