Palau de la Generalitat

You are standing before the building from which the Valencian Community is governed today. Look at its square stone towers with their Renaissance windows: they crown a palace that began life as a simple house on Calle de Caballeros, the street of the medieval nobility.

1An institution in need of a home

The Generalitat was born in the Middle Ages to manage the taxes voted by the Corts, the parliament of the Kingdom of Valencia. In 1418 its deputies were looking for a permanent place to meet; in 1421 they rented rooms in a house on this street, and in 1422 they bought the whole building. Throughout the fifteenth century and the early sixteenth, stonemasons such as Pere Compte, the same master who built the Silk Exchange, worked on it.

2Golden ceilings

Inside are coffered ceilings of gilded wood carved in the sixteenth century, among the most splendid in Spain. The tower was completed in Renaissance style from 1574 onwards, and in 1591 the Sala de Corts was decorated with paintings portraying the representatives of the kingdom's three estates.

3Abolition and return

After the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V abolished Valencia's traditional laws, the fueros, and the Generalitat disappeared for good in 1718. The palace later housed the Royal Audiencia court and the Provincial Council. Between 1942 and 1953 it was restored and given a second tower imitating the old one. Since 1982 it has once again been the seat of the president of the Generalitat.

The two towers look like twins, but almost four centuries separate them.

4What to look for

• The new tower, the one in front of you on Plaza de Manises, built in the mid-twentieth century.
• The old tower, from the sixteenth century, at the far end, towards Plaza de la Virgen.
• The coats of arms and Gothic windows on the Calle de Caballeros façade.