History Of Ibiza

he house where Amnesia now stands was built at the end of the XVIII century. Five generations of the Planells family lived within its thick whitewashed walls. They cultivated the land and built a mill out of stone. During the first half of the X century the poor that came to beg here received bread, cheese and dried figs.

The first foreign visitors arrived in Ibiza towards 1950. They were drawn to the island by its mysterious legends and rumors of its breathtaking untouched nature. In 1954 people like Aristoteles Onassis or Rainier of Monaco were startled by the beauty of the Pitiusan coves. Ibiza discovered tourism and began to prosper and grow.

However, it was the hippies during the 1960's the ones who really enjoyed the island. They were the first to transgress. Idealists from all over the world chose Ibiza and Formentera as their paradise to live in peace. They listened to music, enjoyed the nature and smoked.

In 1964 the Rolling Stones spent a couple of days on holiday in San Antonio. By then the island had more than five thousand hotel occupancies. Europe convulsed in May 1968 – whilst the film More, with music by Pink Floyd, filmed in Ibiza and inspired by Ibiza, presented the island as a paradise for drug consumption.

In March 1970 the Planells family decided to end their long life in the countryside and moved to a flat in town. They sold their 'finca' (country house) and the house to Maria Fuencisla Marti­nez de Campos y Muñoz, a widow from an aristocratic background. This was when the most recent history of our discotheque really began.

The island started to enjoy a freedom unheard of in the rest of Spain. The house that would be soon called Amnesia turned into a meeting point for idealists and counter-culturists. The hippies played in live bands, smoked and experimented with LSD and touched heaven, they danced till dawn and reached the ecstasy with The Doors, organized art exhibitions and many other events.

In 1974 a young man born in Madrid, with a degree in philosophy came on to the scene, his name was Antonio Escohotado. He arrived in Ibiza with hopes to start a new life. Soon he became the apostle for the new drug experimentations.

In 1975 the forty years of the dictatorship ended. Franco died and Juan Carlos I was proclaimed the King.

ne fine day in May 1976 Antonio made a deal with the landlady of the house and she rented it to him for 20.000 pesetas (120€) a month. Now all that was left was to christen the discotheque. Antonio thought hard about this until he came across the name, The Workshop of Forgetfulness. The implication was that people go out at night to forget their problems and indulge in

...