From the Romans to Calatrava, Valencia blossoms in the sun

Oranges ripening under blue skies in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Some weeks before the outbreak of Covid-19 or the Corona Virus pandemic, before Italy and Spain went into ‘lockdown’ and virtual isolation, I spent a few carefree days in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain.

I was conscious that week that back in Ireland there was snow, ice and freezing temperatures. But in Valencia, the oranges were ripening on the trees, the skies were blue, and the temperatures were in the high teens.

Valencia is Spain’s third city, but for tourists and travellers it is almost as if Valencia lives in the shadows of Barcelona. Both Valencia and Barcelona are Catalan-speaking cities, and Valencian is the Catalan dialect spoken throughout the ethnically Catalan Valencia region, just south of Catalonia.

The similarities with Barcelona, which I visited four years ago, are striking. Both Mediterranean ports have large harbours full of cruise ships, pretty beachfront promenades, atmospheric Gothic cores, picturesque central markets, and attractive, futuristic architecture.

Barcelona has long had the tourism edge over other cities with Gaudí’s distinctive architecture, cheap flights and a better soccer team. But lately Valencia has come into its own as a destination for things not seen farther north, and as a less suffocating, more tranquil alternative.

The port city of Valencia is on Spain’s south-east Orange Blossom Coast, where the Turia River meets the Mediterranean Sea. There are several beaches as well as Albufera park, a wetlands reserve with a lake and walking trails.

A fountain in the area where Valencia was founded as a Roman colony in 138 BCE (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Roman and ‘Modernista’ architecture

Valencia was founded as a Roman colony in 138 BCE. Its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain, covering about 169 hectares. The city has a relatively dry subtropical Mediterranean climate with very mild winters and long warm to hot summers. In recent years, more people are discovering this friendly haven and the sites that make Valencia special and one of Spain’s most popular tourist destinations.

The heart of Valencia is its Barrio Carmen, a labyrinth of mediaeval lanes full of dusty Art Nouveau pharmacies, crumbling castle walls, Gothic archways, airy plazas full of café tables, and bubbling fountains.

The architectural sites in the heart of the city include the cathedral, which is the centrepiece of the old town and which claims the original Holy Grail among its treasures; La Lonja, the 15th century Gothic silk and commodities’ exchange; the Mercado Central or central market; and the 100-year-old Estación del Norde, the city’s beautiful Modernista train station.

Valencia Cathedral was first built in the 13th century but stands on the site of a Roman temple, a Visigoth cathedral and a mosque (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

One of the first places I visited in the city was Valencia Cathedral, which is almost 800 years old. It is said to have been consecrated in 1238 by Archbishop Pere d’Albalat of Tarragona after the Reconquista or Christian conquest of Valencia, and was dedicated to Saint Mary on the orders of James I the Conqueror.

However, this was a site of religious worship from many centuries earlier. At first, a Roman temple stood here, later the Visigoths built a cathedral here, and this was converted into a mosque by the Moors.

The colourful apse in Valencia Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

There is evidence that some decades after the Christian conquest of Valencia, the mosque-cathedral remained standing, even with Quranic inscriptions on the walls, until 1262. Hypothetically, the mosque corresponded to the current transepts of the cathedral, the ‘Apostles’ Gate’ would be the entrance to the mosque, and the Almoina (‘alms’) gate the mihrab.

Most of Valencia Cathedral was built between the 13th century and the 15th century. Pope Alexander VI was born Rodrigo de Borja near Valencia and he was still a cardinal when he petitioned the Pope to make the Bishop of Valencia an archbishop. Pope Innocent VIII granted the request in 1492, shortly before Rodrigo de Borja became Pope. The cathedral was burned during the Spanish Civil War and many of its decorative features were lost.

The shrine of the Holy Grail in the chapter house of Valencia Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Holy grail or pious tale?

The cathedral’s greatest treasure is a chalice said to be the true Holy Grail. This chalice with Arabic inscriptions was given to the cathedral by king Alfonso V of Aragon in 1436. This chalice is held in the Chapel of the Holy Grail, where it continues to attract pilgrims.

It is most likely that it was produced in a Palestinian or Egyptian workshop between the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD. However, an inventory said to date from AD 262, says the cha

lice was used by early Popes in Rome and that during one state-sponsored Roman persecution of Christians, the church divided its treasury to hide it with its members, and the chalice was given to the deacon Saint Lawrence.

A later inventory, dated 1134, describes the chalice as the one in which ‘Christ Our Lord consecrated his blood.’

The chalice has been used during visits to Valencia by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

The façade of the Church of the two Saint Johns with ‘the blind eye of Saint John’ where the rose window was never opened (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

In the heart of Valencia, Santos Juanes is a Roman Catholic church in the Mercat neighbourhood. The church is also known as the Church of the two Saint Johns, or Saint John of the Market, because it is beside the Central Market and faces the Llotja de la Seda or Silk Exchange.

The two Saint Johns named in the dedication are Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.

A church was first built here on the site of a former mosque in 1240, two years after the conquest of Valencia by King James and his Christian armies. This follows a pattern found throughout the city, and the church is one of the so-called ‘foundational parishes’ in Valencia.

The Church of San Nicolás de Bari and San Pedro Mártir has been called the ‘Sistine Chapel’ of Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The ‘Sistine Chapel’ of Valencia

But the ‘Baroque Jewel’ of Valencia must be the Church of San Nicolás de Bari and San Pedro Mártir, which has been called the ‘Sistine Chapel’ of Valencia. Pope Callixtus III (1455-1458), also known as Alfonso de Borja, was the Rector of the Church of San Nicolás from 1418 and Bishop of Valencia from 1429 before becoming Pope in 1455.

The interior of the Church of San Nicolás de Bari was completed between 1690 and 1693 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The church is tucked away quietly in the streets of the old town, and is almost hidden from view in a laneway off Calle Caballeros, adding to the surprise awaiting visitors. Inside, it is one of the finest examples of a Gothic church with baroque decorations. Frescoes and plasterwork cover the entire interior, from small pilasters in chapels, to the walls, apse and vaulted ceiling, creating a visual and colour spectacle.

The frescoes were designed by Antonio Palomino in 1694 and completed ten years later by his pupil Dionis Vidal in 1704.

The dome in the Valencia’s Central Market, the Mercado Central (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Markets and railway stations

The Central Market or Mercado Central is an imposing modernist building built in 1928 on the site of one of Spain’s oldest food markets. It may be the most beautiful covered food market I have ever visited. The vast Modernista structure of iron and glass is brilliantly ornamented with luminous ceramic tiles.

Vividly coloured glass windows and cupolas house hundreds of vendors and stalls selling over extraordinary fruits, vegetables, spices, nuts, candy, bread, wine and cheeses, making the market a riot of colour, sounds and smells.

The courtyard in La Lonja, the former Silk Exchange (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Beside the Mercado Central, La Lonja or the Silk Exchange is an imposing late Gothic Monument to the mercantile power of Valencia. This splendid building is a Unesco World Heritage site and is one of Spain’s finest examples of a civil Gothic building.

La Lonja was built as the city’s silk and commodities exchange and was designed by the architect Pere Compte. It was built in the late 15th century, when Valencia was booming.

The main entrance was the Puerta de las Pecados or the ‘door of sin,’ is decorated with tendrils and figures on both sides. The name was a warning merchants about the dangers of sharp business practices.

The Estació del Nord or North Station, designed by Demetrio Ribes Marco (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Estació del Nord or North Station is the main railway station in Valencia. The entrance is on Calle de Xàtiva in the city centre next to the city’s bullring, just a 200-metre walk from the city hall.

The station was designed by the Valencian architect Demetrio Ribes Marco, and was built in 1906-1917. It is one of the main works of Valencian Art Nouveau and walking into the entrance hall is like stepping back in time. This is a grandiose, Modernista-style building and it is a visual feast of colours, with ceramic mosaics and vegetable, flower, orange tree and orange blossom motifs decorating every square metre.

The Plaza de Toros, built in 1850-1859. was modelled on the Colosseum in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Plaza de Toros, beside the Estación del Norte, is Valencia’s bullring, built in 1850-1859. It was designed in the neoclassical style by the Valencian architect Sebastián Monleón Estellés, who was inspired by the Colosseum in Rome and the Arena of Nîmes in France.

I have been a pacifist and a vegetarian all my adult life, so I have no fondness for or interest in bullrings. Indeed, the only bullrings I have enjoyed visiting are small squares in Wexford and Drogheda. But the Plaza de Toros in Valencia is an eye-catching building, formed by a 48-sided polygon, with 384 external arches, and a capacity for around 10,500 people.

The City of Arts and Sciences, designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, is one of the ‘12 Treasures of Spain’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Calatrava’s extravaganza

The Alameda is a green riverbed that that snakes through the ancient city but has been drained and is full of lawns and gardens.

At the height of a property boom in the early 2000s, Valencia decided it wanted to raise its profile through the kind of hyper-ambitious, grandiose architectural project that would attract a new kind of tourism.

One of the results is the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, the City of Arts and Sciences, designed by the Valencian-born architect, Santiago Calatrava, and Felix Candela. They have produced a cultural complex of glittering glass structures that soars above the waterfront, and it covers 350,000 square metres on the former riverbed of the River Turia.

This is one of the best-known works by Calatrava. Although it has not been without its controversies, it has become the most important modern tourist destination in Valencia and is one of the ‘12 Treasures of Spain,’ alongside the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, Seville Cathedral, the Alhambra in Granada, the Cathedral of Santiago Compostela and Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

The landscaped walk at the top of L’Umbracle in the City of Arts and Sciences (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Close by is Calatrava’s opera house, which has attracted Plácido Domingo, world-famous conductors, and a dance series with features from flamenco to zarzuela.

The whole complex was originally budgeted at €300 million, but it has cost nearly three times the initial expected cost, and many people in Valencia complain about both the costs and the many design flaws that have involved continuous, major repairs.

Despite the critics, this is a fascinating and captivating work of art, architecture and engineering. It is not one building, but a collection of buildings and facilities.

Yet, one of the real architectural pleasures of Valencia is the collection of narrow, cobbled streets and small squares, lined with small shops, cafés, restaurants and colourful buildings. It is truly worth taking time to sit down and simply watch life passing by.

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971), the Irish-born scientist, celebrated in an exhibition in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

This three-page feature was first published in May 2020 in the ‘Church Review,’ the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan magazine

A colourful square … and time over coffee to sit and watch life passing by (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Sunshine in pre-pandemic carefree days in Valencia

Sunshine in January in Valencia … part of the three-page feature in the May 2020 edition of the ‘Church Review’ (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Some weeks before the outbreak of Covid-19 or the Corona Virus pandemic, before Italy and Spain went into ‘lockdown’ and virtual isolation, I spent a few carefree days in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain.

I was conscious that week that back in Ireland there was snow, ice and freezing temperatures. But in Valencia, the oranges were ripening on the trees, the skies were blue, and the temperatures were in the high teens.

Little did I know, even in the weeks immediately after I returned, that Spain would go into lockdown, and that Ireland follow in quick succession.

Now, those carefree days seem a distant memory, overtaken by today’s sad circumstances. But I recall them in a three-page feature, illustrated with colourful photographs, in the current (May 2020) edition of the Church Review, the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan magazine edited by the Revd Nigel Waugh, Rector of Delgany.

But, more about Valencia and those carefree, pre-Covid 19 days tomorrow afternoon.

The architectural pleasures of walking around the streets and squares of Valencia

The dome in the Valencia’s Central Market, the Mercado Central (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

The architectural delights during my visit to Valencia last week included the cathedral, some of the city’s many historic churches, the heart of the city’s former Jewish quarter, the City of Arts and Sciences or Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, designed by Valencia’s world-renown architect Santiago Calatrav.

But there many other architectural delights too – too many to take in a short, two-day visit. So, this is merely a taste of some of the other buildings I enjoyed in Valencia:

The Mercado Central was built in 1928 on the site of one of Spain’s oldest food markets (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

1, The Mercado Central

Valencia’s Central Market, the Mercado Central, an imposing modernist building dating from the early 20th century, built in 1928 on the site of one of Spain’s oldest food markets.

This may be the most beautiful covered food market I have ever visited. The vast Modernista structure of iron and glass is brilliantly ornamented with luminous ceramic tiles.

Vividly coloured glass windows and cupolas house hundreds of vendors and stalls selling over extraordinary fruits, vegetables, spices, nuts, candy, bread, wine and cheeses, meaning the market is a riot of colour, sounds and smells.

But you’ve got to get there early in the day, because it is closed by mid-afternoon.

The courtyard in La Lonja, the former Silk Market (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

2, La Lonja, The Silk Market

La Lonja, or Silk Market, beside the Mercado Central, is an imposing late Gothic Monument to the mercantile power of Valencia. This splendid building is a Unesco World Heritage site and is one of Spain’s finest examples of a civil Gothic building.

La Lonja was built as the city’s silk and commodities exchange designed by the architect Pere Compte. It was built in the late 15th century, at a time when Pere Compte was at the peak of his career and when Valencia was booming.

The main entrance was the Puerta de las Pecados or the ‘door of sin,’ is decorated with tendrils and figures on both sides. The name was a warning merchants about the dangers of sharp business practices.

Two main buildings flank the inner courtyard filled with orange trees that were in full fruit when I visited last week.

The Sala de Contratación is a magnificent room, with twisted columns and Gothic windows with intricate tracery. This was the centre of the silk and wool trade, of banking and commerce.

The Consulado del Mar was the seat of a tribunal adjudicating on maritime mercantile cases. The ground floor chamber has a fine Renaissance ceiling, the Sala Dorada on the top floor has an artesonado or intricately decorated, 15th century wooden ceiling.

The Estació del Nord or North Station, designed by the Valencian architect Demetrio Ribes Marco (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

3, Estación del Norte:

The Estació del Nord or North Station is the main railway station in Valencia. The entrance is on Calle de Xàtiva in the city centre next to the city’s bullring, just a 200-metre walk from the city hall.

The station was designed by the Valencian architect Demetrio Ribes Marco, and was built in 1906-1917. Before its completion, trains used to run right through the main doorways of the unfinished building to their final destination at what’s now the Town Hall Square.

The building is one of the main works of Valencian Art Nouveau and was listed as an Historical Artistic Monument in 1961 and a Cultural Heritage site 1987.

Walking into the entrance hall is like stepping back in time. This is a grandiose, Modernista-style building and it is a visual feast of colours, with ceramic mosaics and vegetable, flower, orange tree and orange blossom motifs decorating every square metre.

The main foyer is decorated with ceramic mosaics and murals, with mosaics wishing travellers bon voyage in a variety of languages. The wooden ticket booths have survived, and there are ceramic paintings by Gregorio Muñoz Dueñas in an exhibition room to the right of the main entrance.

Although the station is on the south side of the inner city, its name come from the Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España (Railways of the North of Spain), the railway company that built it and opened it in 1917. The company was later nationalised and incorporated into RENFE, and later separated into Adif, the company that now runs and owns it. The station has millions of passengers each year.

The city hall gives its name to Plaza del Ayuntamiento (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

4, The City Hall:

The Plaza del Ayuntamiento is the central hub of the city and many buses terminate outside the handsome, neoclassical Ayuntamiento or city hall, which gives its name to the square.

Inside the city hall is the city museum, the Museo Histórico Municipal, where the exhibits include the sword said to have been held by James I when he conquered the city from the Moors.

The Palacio de Comunicaciones is the main post office in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

5, The Post Office ‘Palace’:

Across the square from the City Hall, the Post Office has a magnificent dome and a grand interior. The official name of the building is the Palacio de Comunicaciones, although the inscription on its façade has led to it being known as the Edificio de Correos y Telégrafos, or the Posts and Telegraphs Building.

The palace was officially by King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia at the beginning of the 20th century and was completed in 1923.

The Palau de Musica towers over the linear park on the dry riverbed of the Turia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

6, Palau de Música

A short walk from Calatrava’s Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, the Palau de Musica towers over the linear park on the dry riverbed of the Turia.

This is a beautiful concert hall, hosting mainly classical-music recitals. Beautiful fountains that perform a display to music, synchronising the water jets in time which each crescendo and every beat. This is amazing to watch and often happens around mid-day, but I missed this during my visit last week.

(Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

7, The Bull Ring:

The Plaza de Toros, beside the Estación del Norte, is Valencia’s bullring. It was built in 1850-1859. It was designed in the neoclassical style by the Valencian architect Sebastián Monleón Estellés, who was inspired by the Colosseum in Rome and the Arena of Nîmes in France.

When it was built, the arena was outside the city walls, near the Ruzafa Gate. It is an early example of a building that used cast iron columns that provide remarkable transparency in the boxes.

I have been a pacifist and a vegetarian all my adult life, so I have no fondness for or interest in bullrings. Indeed, the only bullrings I have enjoyed visiting are small squares in Wexford and Drogheda.

But the Plaza de Toros in Valencia is an eye-catching building. It is formed by a 48-sided polygon, with 384 external arches, and a capacity for around 10,500 people.

The Archbishop’s Palace, facing the Romanesque south doorway of Valencia Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

8, The Archbishop’s Palace

The Archbishop’s Palace, facing the Romanesque south doorway of Valencia Cathedral, dates back to the 13th century, although only the pointed arches survive from the original building.

The palace stands on the site a grain market during the time of the Moors. It is simple in design, with an inside cloister and a handsome chapel. The arch that connects it the palace with the cathedral was built in 1357.

Continuous pillaging and many fires made it necessary to rebuild this palace in the 20th century, although the earlier chapel and cloister have survived. There are portraits of the Archbishops of Valencia in the council chamber.

La Puerta del Mar was built in 1946 in imitation of the city gate that once stood on the site (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

9, The City Walls and Gates

Over 1,000 years ago, a formidable set of city walls and 12 monumental gates defended Valencia against marauders and invading armies. Today, the medieval walls have disappeared, although two gates survive: the Torres de Serranos to the north, and the Torres de Quart to the west.

To the east, La Puerta del Mar (or ‘Gateway to the Sea’) was built in 1946 in imitation of the city gate that once stood on the site. The original gate was built in 1801 and demolished in 1867, along with a large part of the original city wall. The gate replaced a mediaeval one that actually stood nearer to the river. Both were inspired by the triumphal arches of the Romans.

The Plaça del Doctor Collado is a charming square lined with cafés and colourful buildings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

10, The streets and squares of Valencia

One of the real architectural pleasures of Valencia is the collection of narrow, cobbled streets and small squares, lined with small shops, cafés, restaurants and colourful buildings.

It is truly worth taking time to sit down and simply watch life passing by.

Colourful shoes for walking around the colourful squares and cobbled streets of Valencia? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Calatrava’s architectural masterpiece in Valencia triumphs over all criticism

The City of Arts and Sciences, designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, is one of the ‘12 Treasures of Spain’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

On my first day in Valencia last week, I naturally went in search of the cathedral, some of the historic churches, and the heart of the city’s former Jewish quarter.

But, perhaps, the most interesting area to visit from an architectural point of view came on the second day when I spent a morning at the City of Arts and Sciences or Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències.

This cultural and architectural complex covers 350,000 square metres on the former riverbed of the River Turia. It is one of the best-known works by Valencia’s world-renown architect Santiago Calatrava, and although it has not been without its controversies, it has become the most important modern tourist destination in Valencia and is one of the ‘12 Treasures of Spain.’

The other 12 treasures include the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, Seville Cathedral, Alhambra in Granada, the Cathedral of Santiago Compostela, and Gaduí’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

The architect Santiago Calatrava, who was born in Valencia in 1951, is known world-wide for his public projects such as bridges, stations, museums and stadiums skills in painting and sculpting. He worked on the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia with the Madrid-born architect Félix Candela (1910-1997), who designed the underwater city L’Oceanografic.

After a catastrophic flood in 1957, the former riverbed of the River Turia which was drained and rerouted, and the old riverbed was turned into a picturesque, sunken park.

L’Hemisfèric, the first building in the complex, was completed in 1998 and is centrepiece of the complex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The City of Arts and Sciences was designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela. The first stages of the project began in 1996, and it was inaugurated in 1998 with the opening of L’Hemisfèric. The last major component of the City, el Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, was inaugurated in 2005.

The whole complex was originally budgeted at €300 million, but it has cost nearly three times the initial expected cost, and many people in Valencia complain about both the costs and the many design flaws that have involved continuous, major repairs.

Despite the critics, this is a fascinating and captivating work of art, architecture and engineering. It is not one building, but a collection of buildings and facilities.

The centrepiece of the complex is L’Hemisfèric, completed in 1998. The building includes an IMAX cinema, a planetarium and a laser show.

The building, with a surface of 13,000 sq m, resembles an unblinking, heavy-lidded, giant eye, or the ‘eye of knowledge.’ Its design resembles an eyelid that opens to access the surrounding water pool. The bottom of the pool is glass, creating the illusion of the eye as a whole. The dome or the iris of the eye is a theatre.

El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, an interactive museum of science, stretches like the giant skeleton of a whale (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe opened in 2000. This is an interactive museum of science and stretches like the giant skeleton of a whale within the city. It occupies around 42,000 sq m on three floors, including 26,000 sq m of exhibition space, the largest in Spain.

The landscaped walk at the top of L’Umbracle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

L’Umbracle (2001) is a 320 m long, 60 m wide, portal that links the buildings in the park, but it also includes a car park and offices. On top of this building, a landscaped walk includes 55 fixed arches and 54 floating arches that stand 18 m high, like a feathery ribbed roof.

Here is a collection of plants and trees carefully picked to change colour with each season, and a changing collection of free-standing sculptures. The garden includes 99 palm trees, 78 small palm trees, 62 bitter orange trees, 42 varieties of shrubs, 450 climbing plants, 5,500 ground cover plants and over 100 aromatic plants.

L’Oceanogràfic (2003) is an open-air oceanographic park and the largest oceanographic aquarium in Europe with 110,000 sq m and 42 million litres of water. It was built in the shape of a water lily and is the work of architect Félix Candela, whose concepts here are reminiscent of Antoni Gaudí’s work in Barcelona.

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia broods over the riverbed like a giant beetle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (2005) broods over the riverbed like a giant beetle, its shell shimmering with translucent, mosaic tiles. This is an opera house and a performing arts centre, surrounded by 87,000 sq m of landscape and water, as well as 10,000 sq m of walking area.

The Palau de Les Arts has four sections: the main hall, the master hall, the auditorium, and the Martin y Soler theatre. The building has a metallic feather outer roof that rests on two supports and is 230 m long and 70 m high.

El Pont de l’Assut de l’Or with L’Oceanogràfic in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

El Pont de l’Assut de l’Or (2008) is a white cable-stayed bridge crossing the dry Turia riverbed, connecting the south side with Minorca Street, in between El Museu de les Ciències and L’Agora. The tower of the bridge, at 125 m high, is the highest point in Valencia.

L’Àgora was inaugurated in 2011 but has still not been completed. One guidebook describes is as ‘poking out of the ground like a giant purple mussel.’ This covered plaza hosts concerts, sporting events, exhibitions, conventions and congresses.

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971), Irish-born scientist, Quaker, pacifist, prison reformer and scientist, celebrated in an exhibition on women scientists (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The ‘City of Sciences’ has beset by controversy from the beginning. The conservative Popular Party dismissed it as a ‘work of the pharaohs’ that would serve only to swell the ego of the Socialists, the driving forces behind the initiative. But later Popular Party governments expanded the complex beyond the original project and the enormous cost threatened to bankrupt Valencia.

The Palau de les Arts alone went €45 million over budget and has had many structural problems. But a report last year said the economic impact of the complex is €113 million a year and generates 3,509 jobs.

The Palau de les Arts went €45 million over budget (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Strolling around Valencia and its churches, finding links with the Borgias

The Basilica de Nuestra Señora de los Descamparados … often overshadowed by the neighbouring Valencia Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

The interiors of Valencia Cathedral and churches such as Santos Juanes and San Nicolás made this week’s visit to Valencia an architectural and cultural delight. But there were many other churches that I briefly visited and that provided interesting glimpses into the history and life of the city.

The Real Basilica de Nuestra Señora de los Santos Inocentes Mártires y Descamparados is the long and full name for a church that seems to live in the shadow of Valencia Cathedral. In English, I imagine, it might be known as the Royal Basilica of Our Lady of the Holy Innocent Martyrs and Homeless.

This church was built on the ruins of the Roman forum and gravestones, funerary monuments and inscriptions from Roman times can be seen on the stones used in the building work in the 17th century.

The basilica, built in 1652-1667, takes its name from the statue of the Virgen de los Desamparados or the Forsaken, the patron saint of the city, known affectionately known as La Jorobadita or ‘the humpback’ because the statue tilts slightly forward.

The statue dates from the founding of the hospital of Santa Maria dels Ignocents in 1409 and its brotherhood five years later. The statue was moved to a chapel in the cathedral in 1489, but growing popular devotion created the need for a chapel or church of its own.

A plague epidemic killed about 18,000 people in Valencia in 1647, and many people turned to the Virgin in prayers for help and shelter. The foundation stone for the new basilica, designed by Diego Martínez was laid on 27 April 1652.

Inside, the basilica has the appearance of an oval-shaped church with a dome standing on eight pillars of red marble. The internal decorations, from 1763-1767, were designed by the architect Vicente Gascó Masot (1734-1802).

The frescoes in the dome were painted by Antonio Palomino in 1701. He also painted the vault in the Church of Santos Juanes in 1697 and designed the pictorial programme of the dome of the Church of San Nicolás, which was completed by Dionís Vidal.
Other frescoes are the work of the Valencian painter Francisco Llácer (1781-1852), and works of art in the church include a bust by Octavio Vicent of Pope Alexander VI, who was born Rodrigo de Borja in Valencia.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the church was damaged in 1936, but its fabric and treasures, including the statue, were rescued and saved by the Republican mayor of the city, José Vano Coloma. The basilica was declared a national artistic historic monument in 1981.

San Agustín Church … founded for Augustinian hermits over 700 years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

San Agustín Church or Saint Augustine Parish Church on Plaza de San Agustín dates from a convent built on this site for the Augustinian hermits in 1307. It was once one of the biggest monastic houses in Valencia, but only the church remains today.

The church was originally dedicated to Saint Catherine the Martyr and Saint Augustine. It was built in the Gothic style and has a single nave with side chapels between the buttresses and a choir. The five large pointed arch windows of the presbytery create a sensation of lightness.

French troops used the church as headquarters during the War of Independence in 1812.

During the Spanish Civil War, the church was destroyed in 1936. It was restored and remodelled in 1940 by the architect Javier Goerlich Lleó, and was renamed simply as Saint Augustine Church. The façade and the tower facing onto Guillem de Castro Street date from this restoration.

The most important treasure in the church is a Byzantine icon known as ‘Mare de Deu de Gracia’ (Our Lady of Grace).

Santa Catalina Church stands in the heart of the former Jewish quarter of Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Santa Catalina Church stands in the heart of the former Jewish quarter of Valencia and dates from the Catholic conquest of the city from the Moors, when King Jaime I built the church on the site of a mosque. Behind the baroque façade, the church has an early Gothic interior. The church has one Gothic nave divided into eight sections, which gives the church its enormous width.

The church lost part of its Baroque decorations during the War of Independence.

Santa Catalina Church has a beautiful, baroque bell tower, which is said to be a reworking of the original minaret of the mosque that stood on this site. The baroque tower is a contrast to the more sober bell tower of the cathedral, known as El Miguelete. According to a popular local legend, the two towers are husband and wife.

The Church of Monteolivete holds the icon of Our Lady of Monteolivete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Close to the Ciutat de les Arts I de les Ciencies, which is straddled by the Puente de Monteolivete, the Church of Monteolivete, which gives its name to the bridge, is the surviving legacy of an old hermitage and dates from the 18th century.

The Church of Monteolivete was built in the neoclassical style in 1767-1771 for an old hermitage of priests who had come from Naples. The church is built in the shape of a Latin cross and has a single nave. The façade is flanked by twin towers with a square base.

Inside the church, the icon of Our Lady of Monteolivete stands over the main altar on a base from a small olive tree. The monks of the Congregation of Saint Vincent de Paul took over the hermitage in 1826, but were forced to leave in 1835 under the laws of confiscation.

The church became an independent parish in 1941. Although it has been heavily restored, it is among the best-preserved churches in Valencia.

The Church of Saint Francesco Borja … a reminder of a saint among the Borgias (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Church of Saint Francesco Borja is a modern church on the corner of Calle de Cuba and Calle del Litorato Azorín in Rusaffa, the district where I went strolling each evening. Despite its modern appearance, it is a reminder of the ancient connection between Valencia and the Borgia family. The Borgias moved to Valencia after it was conquered from the Moors by James I of Aragon.

Borgia is the Italian spelling of the Valencian family name Borja. Because of the lifestyle of Pope Alexander VI, the name Borgia is a byword for libertinism and nepotism. Family members included Pope Callixtus III (Alfonso de Borgia) and Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borja), who had several children with his mistresses, including Cesare Borgia, who was a major inspiration for The Prince by Machiavelli, and Lucrezia Borgia, who is the subject of allegations of incest, poisoning and murder.

Saint Francis Borgia (1510-1572), who gives his name to this church, was born Francesc de Borja or Francisco de Borja in Valencia. He was the 4th Duke of Gandía, a Spanish Jesuit, the third Superior General of the Society of Jesus and a grandee of Spain, and was canonised a saint by Pope Clement X in 1670.

His father, Juan Borgia, 3rd Duke of Gandía, was the son of Giovanni Borgia and the grandson of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia); his mother Juana was a daughter of Alonso de Aragón, Archbishop of Zaragoza, who, in turn, was an illegitimate son of King Ferdinand II of Aragon; his brother Tomás de Borja y Castro was Bishop of Málaga before becoming Archbishop of Zaragoza.

Francesco was very pious as a child and wished to become a monk. Instead, his family sent him to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who was also King Charles I of Spain. He was known as a composer of church music, and it was said that before Palestrina, Borgia was one of the chief restorers of sacred music.

He married a Portuguese noblewoman, Leonor de Castro Mello y Meneses, in 1529, and they were the parents of eight children born between 1530 and 1539.

He brought the body of Isabella of Portugal, the mother of Philip II of Spain, mother, to her burial place in Granada in 1539. He was appointed Viceroy of Catalonia that year, although he was still only 29.

When his father died in 1543, Francis became the 4th Duke of Gandía. His diplomatic skills were questioned when he failed to arrange a marriage between Prince Philip and the Princess of failed, ending an attempt to bring the two countries together in a marital alliance. By then he was 33, and he retired to Valencia.

When his wife Eleanor died in 1546, Francis decided to join the newly formed Society of Jesus. He made provisions for his children, put his affairs in order, renounced his titles in favour of his eldest son, and he became a Jesuit priest.

When Francis returned from a journey to Peru, Pope Julius III planned to make him a cardinal. To prevent this, Borgia agreed with Saint Ignatius to leave secretly and go to the Basque Country, where could live a life of seclusion and prayer. But his Jesuit colleagues persuaded him to leave his seclusion and in 1554 he became the Jesuit commissary-general in Spain. There he founded a dozen colleges and was given responsibility for Jesuit missions in the East and West Indies.

He was elected the third Father General or Superior General of the Society of Jesus in 1565, and he has been described as the greatest General after Saint Ignatius. He founded the Collegium Romanum, which later became the Gregorian University, advised kings and popes, and closely supervised Jesuit affairs. Yet he led a humble life and was widely regarded in his own lifetime as a saint.

Francis Borgia died in Rome on 30 September 1572. He was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1624 and was canonised by Pope Clement X in 1670. His feast is celebrated on 10 October.

Inside the Church of Saint Francesco Borja (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Palace of the Borgias, built by the first Duke of Gandia and son of Alexander VI, Pedro Luis Borgia, is now the headquarters for the Valencian Parliament. Since 2007, the Route of the Borgias is a cultural route linking sites associated with the Borja or Borgia family in Valencia. The route begins in Gandia, passes through various towns where the Borja family members left their mark, and ends in the city of Valencia.

Pope Callixtus III was the Rector of the Church of San Nicolás in Valencia before becoming Pope. He built the Chapel of San Pedro in Valencia Cathedral.

Before becoming pope, Pope Alexander VI commissioned Paolo da San Leocadio to paint frescoes for the dome of the apse in the cathedral, introducing Italian Renaissance painting in Spain. Pope Alexander VI also founded the University of Valencia by Papal Bull in 1500.

The cathedral also has a chapel dedicated to Saint Francis Borgia, with two Goya canvasses dating from the time he was Duke of Gandia.

San Agustín Church has survived confiscations and civil war (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The lost Sephardic legacy of the mediaeval Jewish community in Valencia

The large prominent Star of David above the door in the north transept of Valencia Cathedral … were Jewish craftsmen at work here? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Two large, prominent Stars of David – one in the north transept of Valencia Cathedral, the other on the west wall of the Church of San Nicolas – and some street names in the city, set me asking questions this week about the Jews of Valencia, their history and their fate.

Valencia was once home to one of the largest and most important Jewish communities in the Iberian Peninsula. The date of the first Jewish settlement in Valencia is unknown, but there was already an important Jewish community there during the Muslim period.

A fragment of a Hebrew marriage contract from Valencia, dating from the second half of the 11th century, was discovered in the Cairo Genizah. The Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol, also known as Avicebron or Avencebrol, was born in Malaga ca 1021 and died in Valencia ca 1055-1058.

A Jewish emissary represented King Alfonso VI of Castile in Valencia from 1086. When El Cid captured Valencia briefly in 1095, the treaty stipulated that Jews were forbidden to acquire Muslim prisoners of war, Jews who molested Muslims would be prosecuted, and Jews would not exercise authority over Muslims and their property.

When James I of Aragon retook Valencia and entered the city on 9 October 1238, the Jews of Valencia went out to meet him with their rabbis and delegates and presented him with a Torah scroll as a token of homage. At the time, estimates say, there were 162 Jewish families in Valencia, forming 6.5% of the total population.

As a reward for the services the Jews of the Valencia gave him at the conquest of the city, James I granted some houses that once belonged to the Moors to Jewish court favourites. The new Jewish settlers included 104 Jews who received houses and estates in Valencia and the vicinity. They included were several of the king’s interpreters, including Baḥya and Solomon Alconstantini, and Solomon Bonafos, who was Treasurer of Catalonia.

The Jewish quarter of Valencia was centred on the area around the Church of Santa Catalina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

In 1239, James I granted the Jews of Valencia the same privilege as had been granted to the Jews of Saragossa. These included the right to have lawsuits between them judged according to Jewish law; the king would adjudicate in matters of criminal law; in lawsuits between Christians and Jews, both Jewish and Christian witnesses were required; the form of the Jewish oath was established; and Jewish prisoners were released to be in their homes on the Sabbath.

King James also assigned the Jews a large quarter in 1239, on the east side of the Rahbat el-qadi and in its vicinity, on the site where the Church of Santa Catalina stands today. Five years later, James I granted the Jews the whole quarter in 1244. A special gate, known as the Jews’ Gate, led to the Jewish cemetery.

In 1261 James I confirmed the right of the Jews to acquire farming and urban land from all, including members of the nobility and the clergy – an unusual right in those days. One of these owners of land, cattle, and sheep was Don Judah de la Cavalleria, who was appointed bailiff of Valencia after 1263.

The Juderia extended from the wall Aben Xemi to 'Abd al-Malik, from there to the Puerto d’Exarea or Puerto de la Ley (‘Gate of the Law’), and from that gate to the ‘horno de Aben Nulid’ and to the wall of Ibrahim al-Valenci. The boundaries were ratified in 1273, and the community had a wide degree of autonomy.

When a Muslim revolt in southern Valencia was suppressed in 1277, Moses Alconstantini was appointed bailiff. The Jews appointed to administrative offices included Muça de Portella, Aaron ibn Yaḥya and Joseph Ravaya.

However, Jewish autonomy in Valencia was short-lived. Pedro III imposed a new levy on the Jews of Valencia in 1282 to cover the expenses of his wars. The sum was collected by coercive and oppressive methods. Rabbi and Solomon ben Abraham Adret (Rashba), then rabbi of the community, pointed out that the loans and contributions were destroying the foundations of the community.

Moses Alconstantini was deposed in 1283. The properties of the Ravaya family were confiscated after the death of Joseph, and Moses Ravaya was also dismissed. Anti-Jewish policies were introduced to Valencia: the laws on loans and interest and the regulations on oaths were reintroduced; Jews were forbidden to slaughter their animals in the city’s abattoirs; and Jews were ordered to wear a ‘cloak,’ as was the custom in Barcelona.

At the close of the 13th century, about 250 taxpaying families were living in Valencia. They spoke Arabic and their names have been recorded.

But by the end of the 13th century, Jewish merchants had also helped to make Valencia an important centre of maritime trade, buying raw materials, wool, wool products and grain, and exported them through Valencia across the Mediterranean. They traded with Majorca, North Africa, and most of the Mediterranean ports, they bought raw materials, wool, wool products, and grain, and exported them through Valencia to other Mediterranean ports.

In addition, by 1315 there were 43 Jewish brokers in Valencia. Other Jews in the city were engaged in crafts such as tanning and shoemaking and often bore the name of their craft; still others sold agricultural produce and maintained commercial ties with other Jewish merchants in Spain.

The community administration in Valencia was similar to other large communities in Aragon. The community was headed by a council of 30 members, among whom five were chosen as muqaddimūn or leaders by lot. The community was supervised by the bailiff-general, the representative of the king. A Jewish mustaçaf or administrator supervised the market and its trade.

Many problems arose in the Valencia community were referred to Rabbi Solomon Adret and Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet. Pedro IV ordered the bailiff to arbitrate in community disputes about tax collecting in 1348. The Jews of Valencia suffered during the Black Death in 1348, and the persecutions that broke out in the town in its wake.

The large prominent Star of David above the door in the north transept of Valencia Cathedral … were Jewish craftsmen at work here? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Gothic rose window in the north transept of Valencia Cathedral was once known as ‘the Salomo’ because of its elaborate structure and because its principal symbol is the Star of David. It was completed in 1354, but the master builder who was responsible for the window and door below it remains unknown. Some say this is because the artists worked only for God’s glory.

Other legends claim the Star of David was the work of anonymous Jewish craftsmen or that window was paid for partly by local Jewish merchants, although many medieval cathedrals and churches display the star, including the west wall of the Church of San Nicolas in Valencia, and churches or cathedrals in Burgos, Florence, Anagni Aquileia, Orvieto, Brandenburg Stendal and Hanover.

The imposition of new regulations in 1364, based on the regulations of the Jewish community in Barcelona, was a further attempt to reconsolidate the authority of the community. The prohibitions within the community included one against gambling, for money or real estate, with Christians.

Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet (Ribash) was appointed rabbi of Valencia, his native city, in 1385, and held office until the destruction of the community in 1391. He organised activities in Valencia to restore the importance of Torah study and piety.

With the growth of the Jewish population in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Jewish quarter was enlarged in 1390, when the Juderia or ghetto was first surrounded by a high wall and was provided with three gates that were closed at night.

A year later, however, the Jewish community of Valencia was attacked on 9 July 1391 and destroyed by rioters who arrived from Castile and soldiers stationed in the port who were due to sail for Sicily. In the attack, 250 Jews were murdered, while the remainder agreed to convert to Christianity or found refuge in the houses of the townspeople. Many of the synagogues were destroyed and others were converted into churches.

Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet was among those who fled. Those who converted included distinguished figures such as Don Samuel Abravalia, who took the name Alfonso Fernández de Villanova; the king’s physician, Omar Tahuel, who was one of the muqaddimūn, and his relative Isaac Tahuel. Some documents suggest Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet was among those who were forcibly converted before they fled.

On 16 July, the king ordered that Jews who had hidden in the houses of Christians should not be compelled to convert but should be taken to a place of safety. He also prohibited the conversion of synagogues into churches.

However, on 22 September, the king called for a list of the property owned by Jews who had been killed so this property could be transferred to him. In November, a pardon was granted to the Christian inhabitants of Valencia for the attack. None of the synagogues of Valencia survived the 1391 massacres.

After the destruction of the Jewish community of Valencia in 1391, Ḥasdai Crescas estimated its population to have been 1,000 ‘houseowners.’

in 1393, the king and the queen entrusted Ḥasdai Crescas and the delegates of the communities of Saragossa and Calatayud with the task of choosing 60 families who would settle in Barcelona and Valencia. A year later, John I ordered that the Jewish cemetery should be restored to the Jews of Valencia.

A small community may have come together again and Jews were living in Valencia by the close of the 14th century. But the community did not recover and nothing of the Jewish quarter survived the urban development that began in 1412, although Vicente Ferrer is known to have tried to convert Jews in Valencia in 1413.

Yet even after the destruction of the Jewish community of Valencia, the city remained a centre of Jewish trade, and Alfonso V issued letters of protection to Jewish merchants from the Barbary coast who came to trade in Valencia.

Twelve larger-than-life statues by Jacopo Bertesi in the Church of Santos Juanes represent the 12 tribes of Israel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Files survive naming conversos who were sentenced by the Inquisition of Valencia in the 1460s. The conversos had an overwhelming desire to leave Spain, and many made their way to Valencia to flee. When apprehended, they were only condemned to expulsion or fined.

The Papal Inquisition found in 1464 that many Conversos had sailed from Valencia to the East Mediterranean in order to return to Judaism.

When the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1482, Cristóbal Gualves was appointed inquisitor. The Conversos of Valencia complained to the Pope about his cruelty and his acceptance of invalid testimonies. Pope Sixtus IV removed Gualves from his position in Valencia, although King Ferdinand strongly protested against his intervention.

King Ferdinand cancelled the permission given to the Jews for prolonged stays in Valencia in 1483, and abolished the privilege exempting Jews in Valencia from wearing a distinctive badge.

Investigators of heresy were appointed in Valencia in 1484 to act on instructions from Torquemada. But they had hesitations about their duties, and up to 1492 they issued ‘orders of grace’ three times, a rare occurrence in those days. This may also have been because many Conversos had been hidden in the houses of noblemen and Muslims throughout the kingdom of Valencia.

Up to June 1488, 983 Jewish men and women in Valencia had joined the Church, while another 100 people were burned at the stake. At their trials, they were accused of acts against the Christian religion, such as having struck crucifixes.

The trial records reveal the adherence of many Conversos to the practice of Judaism. Many were found with prayer books in the Valencian dialect, and many knew their Jewish prayers.

With the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, Valencia became one of the principal ports of embarkation for the East Mediterranean, although we do not know how many Jews left through Valencia. Isaac ben Judah Abrabanel and his family left from Valencia in June 1492 with special permission from King Ferdinand.

The Jewish market, the zoco, was just outside the Jewish quarter, in Gallinas Street, at the beginning of Mar Street. The Jewish cemetery was outside the Jewish quarter but within the walls of the city. At the expulsion, it was given by Ferdinand to the Dominicans. Today this is the site of El Corte Inglés department store.

Carrer del Convent de Jerusalen, the Street of the Convent of Jerusalem … the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1482 and began working in Valencia in 1484 on the instructions by Torquemada (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Inquisition’s regional tribunal in Valencia continued to function until the Inquisition was abolished in the 19th century.

Now, more than five centuries after the expulsions, Valencia has a vital and pluralistic Jewish presence that sponsors education, holidays, events and worship, and there are several synagogues in Valencia, including the ‎Chabad Lubavitch Valencia.

Valencia also has one of Europe’s most modern Jewish communities: the Kehillat Aviv Valencia, a 125-member Masorti-affiliated congregation was founded by an assortment of Jewish newcomers.

The Jewish quarter of Valencia was one of the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, but nothing of it has survived, although documents have shown us where it was located. But virtually all of the city’s Sephardic legacy has been lost and cannot be seen today.

The large Star of David window above the west door in of the Church of San Nicolas … were Jewish craftsmen at work here too? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)