The Patriarch – Royal College Corpus Christi

The College of Corpus Christi or Patriarch was founded by Patriarch San Juan de Ribera, who was archbishop and viceroy of Valencia. It was created to train priests in the rigid spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Built in record time, between 1586 and 1615, the building presents a great architectural unity. Its façade, very austere, highlights the gallery of arches that crowns it and the large latticed window of the choir of the chapel.

The main door opens on Calle de la Nave. If you cross it you will find a double hall. The one on the left, presided over by an imposing stuffed alligator brought from the American missions, gives access to the College Chapel, richly decorated with frescoes telling stories of the two saints Vincent, showing suggestive images of sixteenth-century Valencia. The impressive Last Supper of Ribalta presides over the high altar.

The other vestibule overlooks the cloister, one of the oldest and purest Renaissance courtyards in Spain, with a double gallery of arches on columns brought from Genoa, to which the tiled plinths give it a local touch. On the right you access the small but interesting museum of the College, with works by El Greco, Joan de Joanes, Sariñena or Ribalta. Declared a National Historic-Artistic Monument in 1962 and an Asset of Cultural Interest in 2007, it comprises a valuable collection of paintings belonging mostly to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Dades bàsiques