The “Bell Tower of the Cathedral” is also known as “La Torre del Micalet”, because in its upper part is the famous bell “El Micalet”, dedicated to San Miguel, to protect the entire city from storms and other evils.
This tower is not the first to house bells in the cathedral, since the “Old Bell Tower”, located in the current old chapterhouse or chapel of the Holy Chalice, also had several bells, of which the “Caterina”, from 1305, the oldest bell still in operation belonging to the Crown of Aragon, is preserved. The “New Bell Tower”, or current tower, began to be built in 1381, as can be read on the tombstone at its feet, and was completed around 1420. From that moment on, successive bells were cast which, together with the “Caterina”, constitute the set of eleven that has survived to date.
The tower contains three rooms, generally closed to the public. On the first floor is “La Presó”, where those fleeing justice took refuge, remaining under the protection of cathedral jurisdiction. It is a gloomy room, with wide walls, which only receives the sun twice a year, and for a few minutes. The second room, larger and octagonal like the rest, is known as the “House of the bell ringer”, because it lived, until the early twentieth century, those responsible for ringing the bells. This room communicates with the upper room through a hole in the ceiling, which allowed some strings of the bells to pass to the bell’s own room, from where he performed the simplest touches. At that time the dedication of the bell ringer was intense, which forced him to remain throughout the day near the bells: he rang about ten times throughout the day and for almost two hours on ordinary days.
This ancient monastery, current seat of the Valencian Library, It also houses the Valencian Academy of Language, the General Department of Books, Archives and Libraries, the Intellectual Property Register of the Valencian Community and the Consortium for the restoration, conservation and use of the Monastery of Sant Miquel dels Reis. The Hieronymous monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes was built in the sixteenth century on the old Mercedarian abbey of San Bernardo de Rascanya, thanks to the patronage of the Duke of Calabria, viceroy of Valencia. The building was begun in 1546 by the southern cloister, following plans by Juan de Vidaña and Alonso de Covarrubias, but shortly after the death of its founder, in 1550, the works were practically paralyzed.
They did not resume until the 1570s, now under the clear influence of the Escorial. Crossing the entrance door we find ourselves directly in front of the façade of the church, a Renaissance façade-altarpiece framed by two towers and to which Baroque Solomonic columns were added at the top. The temple was built in the first decades of the seventeenth century with a single nave, a large choir high at the feet, almost as large as that of El Escorial, and a dome over the transept. The monastery also has two severe cloisters, surrounded by arched galleries only adorned by attached columns and balustrades at the top. Sold after the confiscation, it was about to be demolished, but the city council prevented it. In 1856 he was assigned to an asylum, and from 1859 to the 50s of the twentieth century he served as a prison, a period that was followed by a long abandonment. Today, happily rehabilitated, it is the headquarters of the Valencian Library.
Healthcare institution founded by Joan Baptista Romero Almenar, wealthy banker and Valencian silk merchant, which currently functions as a private and religious charitable-educational entity. The building, partially hidden behind high walls, shows a markedly classicist architecture and was designed by the architect Sebastià Monleón using two axes perpendicular to each other, with a chapel in the center and patios on both sides of it, landscaped and porticoed with cast iron pillars. The dimetrical façade, recently restored, is formed by three large bodies, placing in the central one the access door that is topped by a pediment with allegorical reliefs. It is currently home to the Catholic University.
It is located at Calle de la Presó de San Vicente number 2. It is a rectangular enclosure divided into two sections by a segmental arch. The first section is covered with a lowered vault with two lunettes and the second with a clear sky. According to the Marquis de Cruïlles, the dimensions of the enclosure are as follows: 7 meters, 30 centimeters. long by 4 meters, 60 centimeters wide, and a height of 3 meters and 80 centimeters In the front wall there is an altar table and on the right a stone column with Romanesque capital. This column refers to the following inscription written on an adjoining tombstone: tied to the column that/ venerates in this place, according to / tradition, was flogged,/ by order of Dacian, our / Patron Saint Vincent the Martyr/ Most Excellent Town Hall. MCMLIII.
In the center of this chapel there is a well whose spout, octagonal in shape, has an inner diameter of 40 centimeters. On the right entering there are tiles written as follows: “In the year 1810, on the 17th day of July, just celebrated mass, the vault of this hermitage fell and was renewed in that year on account of the very illustrious city.”
In 1851, according to Cruïlles, the façade was rebuilt and this chapel was restored for worship, being blessed again in 1852. The decoration of the door is of Tuscan order and above the entablamento appears the coat of arms of Valencia.
The chapel, which is currently being restored by Valencia City Council as a building belonging to the Municipality, is encompassed in a modern neighbourhood building.
Work of the architect Antoni Gómez Davo. Purist language with neo-baroque influences, which is used to create the image of great prosperity, wealth and grandiloquence, typical of banks; The façade is arranged with respect to the chamfer, which means with the large access door, and is topped with a tower.
In its composition, the granite base differs with large padded columns, the central body made of exposed brick and the profusely decorated crowning body. Building facing three streets, its floor plan is articulated around a patio covered with a colored skylight around which the offices are arranged. The Bancaja Cultural Center is the result of the union of two historic buildings: the headquarters of the old Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Valencia, from the early twentieth century, and the former residence of Manuel Gómez Fos, from the late nineteenth century. The rehabilitation, carried out in 2007 by architects Pablo Martínez Montesa, José Ricardo Martínez Montesa and José Alberto Jordá Albiñana, meant the union of both buildings and allowed the creation of the current Bancaja Cultural Center with an area of 12,000 square meters.
Rebuilding on which was the old house of the Counts of the Real, work of the architect Timoteu Calvo. On a bench of stalls, runs a first body of padded brick. Stone architraved windows appear on the first floor, the decoration being less profuse on the upper floors. Two symmetrical and decorated doors give way to the cloister courtyard, with Doric-Tuscan columns, around which the building is articulated. There is another beautiful cloister on portal number 1, but accessing it is difficult. On the first floor is the Corinthian chapel, with a semicircular vault and slender dome with dome and lantern.
Modernist residential building, by architects Antonio Martorell Trilles, Emilio Ferrer Gisbert and Carlos Carbonell Pañella. Set of eight buildings, which occupy almost half of a block of flats. The first homogeneous block of flats in Valencia is, despite the different authorships, a design unit. The seriation of the balconies determines a horizontal composition, only broken in the chamfers, where viewpoints and finishes impose the vertical line. The homogeneous treatment of the ground floor and mezzanine further emphasize the importance of the main floor, the wavy finish reinforces the unity of the whole. The use of elements of “Art Nouveau” and “Viennese Sezesión” suggests that the authors would have wanted to summarise both trends.
Casa Chapa is a building that overlooks three streets and must be placed: Avenida Marqués del Turia 69 to 71, Plaza de Canovas 1 and 2 and Calle Gravador Esteve 36 and 38.
The project for the Old Trenet Station, from 1892, was designed by the architect Joaquín M. Belda Ibáñez and clearly shows his academic training in a correct and perfectly symmetrical design composed of elements of the classicist tradition always used rigorously. The building is conceived as a large bay, the two main faces are the facades facing the square and the disappeared rear platforms. The wall of the main façade has five bodies that protrude staggeredly, with the central one being the one that advances the most. The arrangement of the pediments at the finish is vaguely reminiscent of the composition of Palladian churches. After the construction of Line 4 of the metro, its surroundings have been redeveloped and it is currently the headquarters of the regional police.
The building called Baños del Almirante is a medieval construction from the Christian period, intended for public baths that followed the tradition of Arab steam baths or hammam.
In the nineteenth century important renovation works were carried out on the building and the building was given an orientalizing appearance with tiles and plasterwork in the neo-Nazari style.
In 1959, the baths closed as a public bath. From 1963, a gymnasium was installed inside, which worked until 1985 when the Generalitat Valenciana bought the building.
The Arc de la Torreta, in Saïdia, is located at the beginning of Visitació street from the outer ring road, or Paseo de la Saïdia and Guadalaviar, surrounded by the square or roundabout in which the street of the Poeta Monmeneu also converges. The monument has been raised since the 40s, consisting of a three-center arch about four or five meters high and with the same measure wide, of red brick with a lot of canvas. It has a cornice formed by the edge of several rows of bricks with a bordon in the center of it, and four rectangular base and elevation battlements. Its finish, located on an extradose rectum, is pyramidal in shape, of Islamo-Hispanic tradition. On the left is a blue on white socarrat, by J. de Scals, which reads “Zoco from the Arch of the Turret. Tents.” While on the right there is an irregular part of the wall into which this gate was introduced, a brief vestige of Mudejar Valencia.
Designed by the Valencian architect José Manuel Cortina Pérez in 1901, the so-called House of Dragons is a curious residential building located in what was destined to be one of the most important streets of the first expansion of Valencia. Built in accordance with the ordinances of 1887, which authorized a maximum of three upper floors and a minimum of two, the author opts for this second solution, without exhausting the maximum volume allowed, although it includes a mezzanine, formally attached to the ground floor to constitute its basamental body. It should be remembered that in most of the buildings of this period, the ground floors were dedicated to housing.
But what distinguishes this building is undoubtedly the peculiar decoration of its facades in a very personal style of the author that has been baptized as fantastic medievalism. In this case, dragons are the predominant ornamental motif, within a motley set of neo-Gothic elements, floral ornaments, curious columns cantilevered on corbels and somewhat extravagant motifs such as the winged locomotive, symbol of progress, decorated with a star to which different meanings have been sought, but which simply corresponds to the coat of arms of the Northern Railway Company. It is remarkable the care and concern that he dedicates to the so-called “minor arts”, fundamentally locksmith, designing even the smallest details.
Another work by the same author and similar characteristics can be seen at Calle Pérez Pizcueta núm. No. 3, from 1901, or, in a more contained tone, the house located at Sorní 14, from 1907.
The Old Market Market is a unique building, consisting of a large rectangular nave for the fish market which, attached to the façades, has dwellings for fishermen, developed on two floors. The factory is made of brick, with a language of great formal simplicity, except for the entrances to the nave, which are finished with a large semicircular arch. Although the style is somewhat uncertain, it has some romantic details. It was designed by the master builder Joan Baptista Gosálvez.
