Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana

About

The Palace of the Generalitat Valenciana, (Valencian: Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana; Spanish: Palacio de la Generalidad Valenciana) is a historic palace dating from the 15th century, initially built in the Valencian Gothic style with later Renaissance additions and changes. Today, it houses the offices of the executive of the Generalitat Valenciana. In 1931, it was designated a Bien de Interés Cultural made from local materials such as stone from Godella and Rocafort, tiles from Manises and Paterna, marble from Serra del Buixcarró, and wood carved from native forests. The palace is located in La Seu neighborhoodin ES in the Ciutat Vella districtin ES of the city of Valencia. It is located between Carrer dels Cavallers on the south, Carrer Bailia on the north, and between Plaça de Manisesin CA to the west and Plaza of the Virgin to the east. This is one of the oldest parts of the city, where one also finds the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken, the Palace of Fuentehermosa,in ES and the Palace of Batlia.in CA While it currently serves as the headquarters of the government of the Valencian Community, the building has had various names during its long...

Main article: Generalitat Valenciana The original Generalitat—or Diputació del General—was a delegated commission of the Valencian Corts or Parliament, and was created in 1362. It was in charge of the management and administration of taxes paid to the Crown by the three branches of the Corts: ecclesiastical, military, and civil. The precarious economic situation of the Crown of Aragon, of which the Kingdom of Valencia was a part at the beginning of the 15th century, would lead to the consolidation of taxation by the Corts of Montsó. in CA The Generalitats were created to collect and manage the taxes and the members were called deputies.

In 1404, the Valencian Corts appointed 32 deputies to the Generalitat—made up of eight members each representing the royal, civil, military, and ecclesiastical arms—in order to legislate on matters that were considered minor by the Corts. In 1418, King Alfonso the Magnanimous made the Generalitat of the Kingdom of Valencia the organ of administration of the kingdom's funds and the highest representative of the kingdom in the absence of the Corts. The palace was begun in 1421 with the aim of housing this entity.

The old emblem of the Generalitat, seen throughout the palace, was made up of Saint George, representing the military and nobility, the Virgin Mary, representing the church, and the Guardian Angel, representing the civic life of the royal cities and towns. Today this emblem is that of the Valencian Corts, and for the Generalitat, the heraldry of King Peter the Ceremonious is used, which consists of a four-barred shield inclined to the right, accompanied by a crowned silver helmet, an azure mantle, a curvilinear cross pattée and, at the top, a winged dragon.

After the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1707 King Philip V abolished the Furs of Valencia, disbanding the Generalitat and leaving the building without a use. Thereafter, the building housed the Real Audiencia or Territorial Court from 1751 to 1923, the year in which the Provincial Council was installed. After the advent of the current democracy and the recovery of the Valencian institutions, it was once again the seat of the Generalitat and a symbol of Valencian unity and identity. In 1978, it once again housed the Council and the Corts, but in 1984 the Corts was moved to the Palace of the Borgias ( Valencian : Palau de Benicarló, in CA ) and the building was used exclusively by the Council of the Generalitat Valenciana ( Valencian : Consell de la Generalitat Valenciana in CA ).

The architecture of the building represents a mix of artistic styles that move from Gothic, passing through the Renaissance, to the Herrerian style. The original building is Mediterranean Gothic with an open patio, an open staircase, an ogival or gothic door on the mezzanine as well as on the façade, and lintel windows on the mezzanine as well as in the windows located under the eave. The falcon doors and corners are Renaissance and the windows of the second floor are classic. The balustrade that crowns the towers is in the style of El Escorial.

In 1418 the deputies of the Generalitat decided to look for a fixed place to hold their periodic meetings. In 1421 they rented two rooms of a house in the current Carrer dels Cavallers from the notary Jaume Desplà in ES to use them as meeting rooms and notary. The chosen place was favorable because it is quite central, very close to the old Casa de la Ciutat and the Cathedral, headquarters of temporal and spiritual power, respectively.

The following year, in 1422, the entire house would be purchased. The building had very modest dimensions, with the aforementioned meeting and notary rooms, in addition to a study on the stable.

At this time, different works of adaptation and beautification are carried out that have not survived. In 1450 a smaller door that existed next to the main one on Carrer dels Cavallers was blinded and in 1456 the rear façade was renovated, opening onto the current Plaça de Manises, with a large door and two windows. A few years later, in 1476, a porch was built on the flat roof with an overhang similar to that of the nearby Casa de la Ciutat.

In 1481, the house adjacent to the headquarters of the Generalitat was put up for sale and the deputies acquired it in order to expand the building. The renovation works were carried out by the "obrer de vila" Francesc Martínez "Biulaygua", who also worked on the earlier building. In addition, masonry work was carried out by Pere Comte and Joan Yvarra, who at the same time were contracted to build La Lonja de la Seda.

Their work included a stone staircase, now lost, and the exterior façades of the building. The new organization of the building began with the entrance on Carrer dels Cavallers into a courtyard with stables on the left and storage on the right. Above the stables was the Clerk's Office on a mezzanine, which was accessed from a ladder, and next to that the Archive. On the main floor were the meeting room and a hall, which was accessed by the stone staircase. Next to the meeting room was a chapel with a square plan and covered with a vault of nine keys, similar to that of the Lonja, whose only window overlooked a narrow alley. The altarpiece would be built in 1483 by the painter Pere Cabanes.

In 1494 the experienced stonemason Joan Corbera was hired to design and build the stone roof of the Clerk's Office and, in 1504 he roofed the Archive with mixed arches of a Castilian style. He also created the shields of the room looking out over Carrer dels Cavallers. Regarding the master masons of this first stage, it is worth mentioning, in addition to Francesc Martínez, Miquel Ruvio, who was replaced in 1502 by Joan Mançano. Also important is the work of the painters Simón de Gurrea and García de Carcastillo, who decorated the ceiling of the archive with "vulgarment dites del romà" figures.

The internal layout of the primitive building, which adapted the rooms of the old houses, would change completely from 1511 onwards. These works would be carried out by the master masons Joan Corbera and Joan Mançano, and carpenters Alegret and Joan de Bas.

The work consisted of dismantling the old and heterogeneous courtyard, the result of joining the free spaces of two houses, in order to make room for the current courtyard. The five stone arches and the staircase made by Pere Compte were dismantled and later sold. In their place were built the two wide arches and the staircase still extant today. It was also planned to extend the door onto the Plaça de Manises to give it a width equal to that of the door onto Carrer dels Cavallers. New windows would also be opened and new rooms would be built, of which a good part is preserved. The great hall and the chapel were built on Carrer dels Cavallers, while the Plaça de Manises had three rooms on the main floor, plus other smaller ones in the studios and ground floor. The coffered ceiling of the Sala Dorada was begun by Joan Bas and finished, after his death, by Jordi Llobet. Joan Corbera designed the two ceilings of these rooms, leaving the sculptural work in charge of Jaume Vicent. The chapel, which is now lost, was in line with Renaissance architecture, with the sculptor Lluís Monyós working on the decoration from 1514 onwards.

Work on the Tower and other interventions (1516–1600)

At the end of 1513 another building was put up for sale located between the Palace of the Generalitat and the alley that separated the Casa de la Ciutat. A few years later another adjoining house was acquired, which completed the space now occupied by the tower. The works are begun by Joan Corbera and Joan Mançano, with the collaboration of sculptors such as Jordi Llobet and Lluís Monyós, and gilders such as Pere Bustamant and Martí Eiximenis. The ground floor and the two mezzanine studios, later known as the Sala Daurada and the Sala Daurada Menuda were built and the ceilings installed before 1520.

The Revolt of the Brotherhoods (1519–1523) marked a period of inactivity in the works, which would not resume until 1533. At this time the priest and master builder Monsignor Joan Baptista Corbera, son of Joan Corbera, took charge of the works. The masonry works will be carried out by Joan Navarro, also making the decoration of the coffered ceilings of the two rooms, carving was directed by the Oriolano carpenter Genís Llinares.

Over these two rooms the Sala Nova was built, for which Monsignor Corbera would make seven windows in 1538 framed by a perimeter molding and topped by pediments, similar to those of the courtyard of the Palace of Ambassador Vich. in ES On top of these seven smaller windows would be built, square in shape and with a fully Renaissance decoration that is influenced by Serlio's Treatise on Architecture.

At the end of 1540, Genís Llinares was commissioned to create the roof of this large hall, with a corridor or perimeter gallery that evokes the Throne Room of the Palace of the Catholic Monarchs in the Aljafería of Zaragoza. The prominent presence of columns in the shape of a chandelier betrays the influence of Diego de Sagredo's in ES treatise, published in 1526, as well as the sculptural tradition of the early Castilian Renaissance. Upon the death of Llinares in 1543, it would be his sons, Pere and Martí Llinares Blasco, who would be in charge of continuing the work, finishing it, between 1562 and 1565, the carpenter and sculptor Gaspar Gregori. The members of the Llinares family and Gregori are credited with the rich carved decoration and the wooden panels with scenes that are distributed throughout the ceiling. Joan Vergara was in charge of the work to build a porch and a flat roof with a parapet over the Sala Nova, which would be dismantled a few years later.

In 1568 the important plinths and pavement were tiled with ceramics from Manises, made by Joan Elies according to designs by "Joannes lo pintor", probably Juan de Juanes. In 1572 the Deputies hired the master Hernando de Santiago who had recently arrived in the city and was aware of the new models that were being introduced in the tile factories of Seville. After 1575 it would be Juan de Villalba, from Talavera, who continued the ceramic decoration for the building.