The 5 Most Beautiful Buildings in Valencia

Valencia is a city of Spanish sunshine. It is steeped in history, great food (as the home of Paella, expect no less), and wonderful architecture spanning many centuries and multiple styles. From Baroque to Brutalism, from Gothic glory to Spanish Modernista, Valencia has a selection of the most eclectic architecture. In reverse chronological order of construction, here is a small selection to whet your architectural appetite.

The City of Arts and Sciences is a vast 35-hectare leisure complex of breathtaking white buildings celebrating arts, science, and the natural world. It is situated in the southern part of the city. Constructed between 1991 and 2004, for some it may look familiar even if you have never visited as it has been used as a filming location for series such as BBC’s Doctor Who and HBO’s Westworld.

When viewed in sequence, they create an aquatic whale-like exoskeleton. The shimmering mosaic tiles on all these buildings make for an ethereal quality to the whole complex. All are designed by the world-renowned Valencia-born Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who is as significant to his birthplace of Valencia as Gaudi is to Barcelona. His works around the world include the O’Hare Terminal and the Spire Tower in Chicago, the Traversée du Lac in Geneva, London’s Peninsula Place, the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai, the Sharq Crossing in Geneva, and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City. The first building in the sequence from West to East of the complex is the Opera House, the Palau de las Arts Reina Sophia. It has a beetle-like body and a 750-plus-foot-long suspended cover, which appears suspended, unsupported, and resembles the crest of a Roman Centurion’s helmet.

Next in the order comes the Museo de las Ciencias Principe Felipe, or the Science Museum. The interior is a cool, open space full of interactive exhibits and installations to explore over four floors of exhibition space. Cool both in terms of temperature and overall ambiance for visitors. The exterior walkway, which juts out over the water, is beautiful, but generally inaccessible, and was added after construction to serve as a fire escape.

A final building to be viewed here (although there are many more to explore, such as the Agora and the Oceanogràfic) is the Umbracle which forms the portal to the complex. The most beautiful covering for a car park and administration offices, it provides a tropical-style garden walk with an archway covering to stroll and see the sights. Although this complex contains many fascinating buildings, Valencia is by no means limited to futuristic architecture, as the next buildings attest.

Russafa is the area of Valencia most known for its café culture, its residential streets lined with pavement drinking spots, and its tapas bars. It is an area not to be missed if you want to experience the culinary and social buzz of the city. The most striking building in this area is another of Valencia’s markets, Russafa or Ruzafa Market.

The colors of this building arrest the eye, shimmering in the Spanish sunshine. It is a fine example of the Brutalist style, built from reinforced concrete. Designed by Spanish architect Julio Bellot Senent in 1957 following its entry into a design competition to win the commission, it was opened to the public in 1962. Like louvred blinds of yellows, greens, blues, and earth tones on different sides, the color and vibrancy draw you into this neighborhood market. These fins were added to the building during renovation in 2010 to reflect the colors of the wonderful produce available inside the market itself. Containing over 160 stalls, and spanning over 51,000 square feet, it is a considerable size, although not on the same scale, volume, or architectural style as its counterpart in the City Centre—the Mercado Centrale.

3. Mercado Centrale

Designed in 1914 and inaugurated in 1928, it occupies the space of the former open-air marketplace. This is the largest market in Europe and one of the most visited buildings in the City of Valencia. The style is described as eclectic pre-Modernist and likened to an Art Nouveau cathedral with its domed ceilings and stained-glass windows. The architects Alexandre Soler March and Francesc Guàrdia Vidal collaborated with Luis Mantaner to create the building. The latter was influential in the Catalan Modernisme Art Nouveau movement. His most famous buildings in Barcelona are the Hospital de Sant Pau and the Palau de la Musica Catalana, which are collectively designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The building has an unusual shape as a 14-sided polygon, with two distinct sections allocated to produce and fish. It has sloping roofs, two domes, and multiple entrances. With more than 950 stalls, it is easy for the visitor to get lost inside, but the paintings on the ceiling will help you situate the areas for different goods. Even if you do lose your way, there is so much to see, do, and taste that the time will be well spent. The commerce of the market is central to Valencian life. Commercial roots run deep in this city, and this is reflected in another key building in the city, La Lonja.

The full title of the building is La Lonja de la Seda, or, in English, the Silk Exchange. Built entirely between 1483 and 1533, it was designed to show the power and importance of the city’s merchants and the significance of the silk trade and wider commerce. Almost half of the site, in the heart of the City Centre, is covered by the Sala de Contractación, the room where the merchants would meet and undertake their contracts and deals. This is a magnificent hall built in Flamboyant or Late Gothic style, with three main aisles and the most magnificent twisted, or helical, pillars more than 53 feet high.

There are eight columns dividing the room, which feed directly into the roof arches, and another 16 of these columns are embedded into the walls. The floor is made from colorful marble, and the inscription over the Puerta de los Pecados, or the Door of Sin, reminds all merchants to trade honestly to guarantee prosperity, wealth, and salvation. The Hall is one of the three main sections of the site, which are all centered around a courtyard area called the Orange Garden. The second section is the Consulado del Mar, built at the beginning of the 16th Century. Here, the tribunal resolved issues for the maritime trade. There is a vaulted cellar and two further floors; the upper floor contains the most beautiful gilded coffered ceiling painted in gold and deep colors and is known as the Camera Dourada.

The final part of La Lonja is the Tower. The doorway at the entrance is renowned for its style and beautiful sculptures. There is a chapel on the ground floor and two upper floors connected by a delicate, unsupported stone spiral staircase. The chapel is small and paved with a beautiful star-shaped design of black, white, and red marble tiles. From La Lonja with its beautiful architecture and entertaining and varied storytelling through sculpture and decoration, we move to our final beautiful building of Valencia in this list. It would be impossible not to include one of the many ornate and impressive religious buildings in the city, so here is the most impressive of all, La Catedral.

The Cathedral is a mix of histories and architectural styles. It was built on an ancient Roman temple that later became a mosque before becoming a cathedral. It is principally a Gothic-style building, but it has many elements from Romanesque and Baroque styles, as well as Renaissance frescoes that were recently uncovered. The impressive Baroque façade and bell tower over the main entrance entice the visitor inside. The main structure is Gothic, and the side chapels, with neoclassical columns, are from an 18th-century renovation.

Many visitors enter the Cathedral in search of The Holy Grail or Holy Chalice, which is housed within the Santo Caliz Chapel. The cup, made of agate, dates from the first century BCE. Stories of the chalice’s journey are varied, but it was gifted to the cathedral by King Alfonso V in 1437.

The bell tower of the Cathedral, El Miguelete, is a focal point of the city. The tower was built between 1381 and 1424. It is built on an octagonal base and curiously has a perimeter that is equal to its height. It is named after its biggest bell, Miguel, which weighs more than ten tons and was cast in 1532. Climbing the 207 stairs of the tower rewards you with the best views over Valencia and all the wonderful architecture the city has to offer. You will spot many of the buildings in this list, as well as many others which are a delight to explore.