Valencia's old town: cathedral, Silk Exchange and market: a self-guided walk
By Alleytale
From the Roman forum to the North Station: the cathedral, the Silk Exchange and the central market
Valencia's center grew from that forum: a mosque became a cathedral, merchants built a Gothic hall for silk, a market rose in iron and tile, and the walk ends in the modern city of the early 1900s around the town hall and the station.
The stops
You start on the square that descends from the forum of Roman Valentia, where the city's two main streets once crossed. The bronze Turia fountain by Manuel Silvestre Montesinos, opened in 1976, shows the river as a reclining bearded man surrounded by eight young women with water jugs, one for each of the main irrigation canals of the Vega. The cathedral, the basilica and the palace of the Generalitat all stand around it.
Photo: Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 This is the sanctuary of the Virgin of the Forsaken, patron saint of Valencia, and it stands at the highest point of the old city. Several stones on its main façade are Roman tombstones and inscriptions, and excavations nearby suggest this was the Roman forum. Antonio Palomino painted the frescoes of the dome in 1701, and a small barred window in the door of the passage beside it lets you see the lit statue of the Virgin even when the basilica is closed.
Photo: CésarOP — CC BY-SA 4.0 On Thursdays at noon, a court of farmers meets in front of the cathedral's Door of the Apostles to settle disputes over irrigation water from the Turia. Each judge, called a síndic, speaks for one of the canals, the trial is oral and in Valencian, and nothing is written down. UNESCO listed it as intangible cultural heritage in 2009, and its roots reach back to the 10th century.
Photo: Rafa Esteve — CC BY-SA 4.0 The cathedral was consecrated in 1238, after the Christian conquest, and dedicated to Saint Mary by order of James I; it stands on the site of the old Visigothic cathedral that the Moors had turned into a mosque. In 1262 the bishop decided to knock down the mosque-cathedral that was still standing, and most of what you see went up between the 13th and 15th centuries, mainly in Valencian Gothic. In one of its chapels is a chalice that many believe to be the Holy Grail, which Alfonso V of Aragon gave to the cathedral in 1436.
Photo: Bene Riobó — CC BY-SA 4.0 Work on the Miguelete began in 1381, and the Gothic tower stands 63 meters high with 207 steps. It began as a separate tower and was joined to the cathedral later, when the nave was extended. Eleven bells hang in its bell room, and the oldest, Catherine, was cast in 1305 and is said to be the oldest still in use anywhere in the Crown of Aragon.
Photo: Enfo — CC BY-SA 3.0 This square began on a wedding day: on 23 January 1878, the day Alfonso XII married María de las Mercedes, the acting mayor swung a silver pickaxe to start pulling down the old blocks of houses in front of the cathedral's Door of the Irons. It was named for the queen, but people kept saying plain Plaza de la Reina and the council went back to that name. The Door of the Irons itself, a Baroque doorway designed in 1703 by the German Konrad Rudolf, still faces the square.
Photo: Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0 The church dates to the early 13th century and stands on the site of an earlier mosque. Its Baroque tower, begun in 1688 and finished in 1705, was designed by Juan Bautista Viñes. The parish agreements said nothing about a staircase, so he built the tower without one; the dispute went to court, the builder won, and the parish paid for the 128 steps, which went in many years later.
Photo: Francesco Crippa — CC BY 2.0 Go in by any of its four entrances, one on each side, and a round courtyard opens up, hidden behind an unbroken wall of yellow houses four storeys high. It is one of the smallest squares in the city, with a fountain topped by a lamp in the middle and a ring of stalls around it. It is also called Plaça del Clot, and it is best seen from above, from the Santa Catalina tower or the Miguelete.
Photo: Enfo — CC BY-SA 3.0 Built between 1482 and 1533, the Silk Exchange is where Valencia's merchants made their deals, in a trading hall of eight twisted stone columns. A band of Latin lettering runs around its walls and praises honest trade, the kind that does not deceive with words. The wing at the side housed the Consolat del Mar, the first maritime merchant court in Spain, and UNESCO made the whole a World Heritage Site in 1996.
Photo: Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 The church began as a mosque turned chapel before 1240 and was rebuilt after fires, taking its present Baroque look between 1693 and 1702. The face of its apse looks onto the market square, with a stucco Virgin of the Rosary attributed to Jacopo Bertesi, and a huge blocked-up round window on the west front is known as the O of Sant Joan. Antonio Palomino came to Valencia in 1697 to paint the church's vaults.
Photo: Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0 A competition in 1910 chose the design of Alexandre Soler March and Francesc Guàrdia for the Central Market, and building ran from 1914 until 1928. It is one of the main works of Valencian Art Nouveau, an iron frame decorated with tiles and colored glass that lets daylight in through the roof and colored window panels. A parrot crowns the building, a nod to the noise of the vendors and shoppers.
Photo: Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0 The part behind the grand front began life as a school, the Casa de Enseñanza, built between 1758 and 1763 on the initiative of Archbishop Andrés Mayoral; the city council has used it since 1860. The front on the square was officially opened in 1930 and is crowned by the bronze city coat of arms, held up by two marble women for the Arts and Letters, by Mariano Benlliure. The municipal history museum inside keeps the Pendón de la Conquista and a codex of the Fueros, and from November 1936 to October 1937 the council chamber also served the Cortes of the Second Republic.
Photo: Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0 The post and telegraph palace was built between 1915 and 1922 by the architect Miguel Ángel Navarro and opened in 1923, partly on the old fishermen's quarter. Look up at the sculptures over the main arch, which stand for the five continents, and at the groups of angels bringing letters on each side of the clock. Inside, a stained-glass dome by the Mauméjean brothers has 370 panels carrying the coats of arms of Spain's 48 provinces.
Photo: Bene Riobó — CC BY-SA 4.0 Designed by Sebastián Monleón Estellés and inaugurated in 1859, the bullring has an outer wall of exposed brick in a polygon of 48 sides, with arcades inspired by Roman civil architecture such as the Colosseum and the arena at Nîmes. It is notable for an early use of cast-iron columns in the boxes. When it was built the site lay on the edge of the city, and the North Station now stands right beside it.
Photo: Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0 The North Station opened on 8 August 1917, designed by Demetrio Ribes for the Norte railway company, and is one of the main works of Valencian Art Nouveau. Its façade takes its decoration from Valencian farming, with oranges and orange blossom, and carries the red and gold bars of the Valencian shield beside the company's star and an eagle, the symbol of speed. In the vestibule, the woodwork wishes travelers a good journey in several languages.
Photo: Sjaak Kempe from Groningen, The Netherlands — CC BY 2.0
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