Going "Baroque" in Valencia

OK, my title is a corny pun, but the city of Valencia is filled with extravagant architecture, not just baroque, but everything from Gothic to contemporary.

Yesterday afternoon, after settling into our rooms, we went to the National Museuim of Ceramics, which is located a few steps from our hotel.  The museum is housed in the Palace of the Marquis of Dos Aguas.  It was built in the 15th century and then remodeled in 1740.  The exterior of the building is quite impressive, especially the alabaster carvings which surround the doorway.

We didn't find the displays of ceramics to be especially compelling, but a number of the palace's rooms have been restored with the original furnishings.  They provide a glimpse into the "over-the-top" lifestyle of the Spanish aristocracy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

We continued walking around the city into the early evening.  We saw that the door to the church pictured below was open, and we walked in.  The simple facade gave us no clue as to what we were to see inside.

I later did some research, and discovered that we had visited the Church of the Royal Seminary of Corpus Christi, which was established in 1583.  The interior is richly decorated with sumptuous altarpieces and fresco paintings on the walls and ceiling and in the dome.

Today we saw a few more architectural gems in the city.  The Royal Parish of Santos Juanes is located next to the central market.  It was built in 1240 on the site of a Moorish mosque.  The church was later renovated and baroque decorations were added to the facade.

A block away is "La Compañía", the former Jesuit church.

 

In between the two churches stands "La Lonja de Seda" (The Silk Exchange), one of the finest examples of civil Gothic architecture.  It has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  In the 1400s Valencia was a rich center of commerce, and its most important product was silk fabric.  In 1493 this building was begun as a center for commerical transactions.  The Hall of Columns, a large room with rows of towering pillars, was where commerce was conducted.

 

An intricately carved wooden ceiling in another room of the Lonja.

Valencia holds many more treasures awaiting our exploration in the next two days.