Dades bàsiques

Duració:

3 hours

Punt de partida:

Torres de los Serranos

Punt de finalització:

Palace of the Generalitat



This route runs through some of the most outstanding monuments of our civil and religious architecture. Churches of ancestral origin, museums, cultural spaces and centuries-old palaces will constantly come our way on this tour full of tradition, monumental spectacularity and popular flavor.

We start from the surroundings of the Torres de los Serranos, in the heart of the old town of Valencia, Ciutat Vella district.

Afterwards, we will cross the old bed of the River Turia, today known as the Turia Garden, to visit some of the most representative places of this heritage route, and finish at Calle Caballeros.

Most of this route takes place in the popular Barrio del Carmen and its surroundings.


The first proposal of our route has as its epicenter the Plaza de la Crida. From there, under the Torres de Serranos, we will take the road to our first destination: we will cross the bridge of the same name, over the Turia Gardens, to reach the Church of Santa Monica, from the eighteenth century. This church was part of an old Augustinian convent and has undergone different restorations throughout its history.

If we follow the bank of the old river towards Els Vivers, in 5 minutes we arrive at the Monastery of the Trinity, National Monument and Asset of Cultural Interest, an excellent architectural sample of Mediterranean Gothic that houses in its interior several artistic jewels that can be visited by prior reservation.

Leaving behind this monastery, just a couple of minutes away we find the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia, one of the best in Spain, an unmissable reference in terms of ancient Valencian painting. Some of its most representative jewels bear the signatures of Velázquez, Pinturicchio, Pinazo, Sorolla, Murillo, José de Ribera…

After this rewarding artistic immersion, we cross the old river again, this time by the Trinity Bridge, built between 1401 and 1407, in Gothic style, one of the oldest in the city and the first made of stone. We go to the Colegio Gran Asociación (former Hall of Rationalists) and to get there we pass again in front of the Torres de Serranos and continue along Blanquerías Street. This was a place dedicated to charity, which was built in the nineteenth century based on constructive rationalism.

We return to our journey along Blanquerías Street and as soon as we enter the Paseo de la Petxina we find the Benlliure House Museum, dedicated to one of our greatest artistic glories, the Benlliure family. The building houses the family’s collection and faithfully reproduces the atmosphere in which he lived this whole saga of Valencian artists, among which the sculptor Mariano Benlliure and his brother, the painter José Benlliure, stood out.



We enter the neighborhood, through Salvador Giner Street in the direction of Plaza del Carmen. Before arriving we find the Church and Old Convent of Carmen (S. XV-XIX), of a rich artistic diversity in which converge a medieval chapel, a Gothic cloister, a Renaissance cloister and a baroque bell tower, among other elements. Today it houses the Museum of the nineteenth century.

In front of the church, already in the Plaza del Carmen, awaits us the neoclassical façade of the Palace of Pineda, built in the eighteenth century. It was the former residence of the Intendant General Pineda and that is the name that still survives. Since 1980 it has been owned by the Generalitat Valenciana and today it is the headquarters in Valencia of the Menéndez Pelayo International University.

From there, we go up Calle Roteros and turn right to find a stark example of our most recent past: the air-raid shelter on Calle Serrans from 1937, rehabilitated and converted into a cultural exhibition space.



From this point, follow Carrer de Serrans towards the old riverbed, you will reach the Torres de Serrans in less than a minute. They were built in the fourteenth century. Thanks to their use as a prison, they were preserved intact and survived the destruction of the wall that was carried out in the nineteenth century. The same happened with those of Quart, the other gate of the Christian walled enclosure that is preserved today.

We suggest you return to Calle Serrans and enter the old town. We will soon arrive at the Plaza de Manises, where we find two palaces worth mentioning: the Batlia Palace, from the fifteenth century, which today houses the headquarters of the Provincial Council of Valencia, and the Marquis Palace of La Scala, from the sixteenth century, which mixes the Valencian Gothic style with later contributions from the Renaissance and Baroque.

In front of the Batlia Palace is located the Tower of San Bartolomé Apostle, from the thirteenth century. It is the only surviving element of the church of the same name, one of the first to be built in the city.

Following our path, we will immediately reach our last destination point. At the junction of the Plaza de Manises with Calle de Caballeros, very close to the Plaza de la Virgen is the Palace of the Generalitat Valenciana, a late Gothic style building built in 1421. Throughout its history it has undergone several modifications, the most noteworthy being those of the Renaissance style. A symbol of our people, which houses the highest autonomous institutions.