LONJA DE LA SEDA

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, this civil Gothic masterpiece was built between 1482 and 1548 to plans by Catalan architect Pere Compte. The Lonja de la Seda (Silk Hall) is an emblematic building of the Valencian Golden Age: it was built in response to the economic and cultural boom that made Valencia the capital of the Mediterranean in the ^15th century. It was here that merchants traded and sold precious raw materials, particularly silk.

La Lonja comprises three buildings - the Salon des Colonnes, the Tower and the Consulate de Mer - and a garden known as the Patio des Orangers. The Salon des Colonnes is covered by a remarkable set of cross vaults resting on narrow spiral columns over 17 meters high. This was the site of the taula de canvis (money-changing table), used for commercial transactions at the time. Santiago Calatrava often cites the Salon of Columns as an essential source of inspiration for his work. The tower is reached via an impressive spiral staircase with no central axis, a feat of engineering for its time. The tower, which unfortunately cannot be visited, was once used as a prison for indebted merchants. Last but not least, the Hall of the Consulate of the Sea once housed the Court of the Consolat del Mar, an ancient institution dealing with maritime and commercial affairs.