Captaincy of Valencia

The origin of the construction of the Captaincy dates back to 1239 in the time of James I, who granted the Dominicans to build his convent on this site. As a symbolic fact, he himself laid the first stone of what was to be called the Royal Convent of Santo Domingo in Valencia.

As a religious building, the site had its own spaces for ecclesiastical functions and also had an important remodeling carried out during the fourteenth century.

At this time the convent was enlarged with a cloister of Gothic arches , chapels, the chapterhouse and later a large vault was built.

Apart from many religious elements from the decorative and architectural plane present inside, it is worth highlighting its exterior doorway, specifically the one that falls on the Plaza de Tetuán.

It is a majestic door that some chroniclers identify as having been designed by Philip II himself.

Returning to the interior, the Gothic cloister stands out in a special way accompanied by a small and relaxing garden.

Historically, this building also served as the seat of the Kingdom's Cortes Generales. Even its stones witnessed the marriage link between Philip III and Margaret of Austria.

It was occupied by French troops in the War of Independence and later recovered by the Dominicans until 1835. At that time,
the secularization
of religious orders was decreed and it was when the building became state property. From then on, its facilities served as the Captaincy General of Valencia.