La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia

Carrer de la Llotja, 2, 46001 València, Valencia
Telephone: 962 08 41 53

La Sala de Contratacion

Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Central Market is La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia. La Lonja (meaning "the Silk Exchange") was the cite of one of the world's largest silk trades. The Valencian Gothic style building was built  between 1482 and 1548. It's modestly blank outer walls do not compare to the intricately designed insides.

Before even reaching the main buildings, there is the beautiful garden. A star-shaped fountain precedes the entirety of the garden. In the garden, trees bear various fruits. I take this to further demonstrate Valencia's fertility. This idea is interesting and makes logical sense, considering the importance of showing out-of-towners coming to a center of center of economic fertility and prosperity just how fertile and prosperous the city really is.

The structure has three main components. First, is the Sala de Contratacion, or the Contract Hall (or main hall). This is where merchants from all over the world would come to draw up their contracts to exchange silks from their homes. It was also the most active room. Second is the Pavilion of the Consulate (the side wing). This area was home to the Tribunal del Mar– First Spanish merchant tribunal. The first two floors of the pavilion are the main function areas, while the third floor has a uniquely decorated ceiling. Finally, there is the central tower. This tower was made to hold prisoners and imprison merchants with debts. They would be publicly humiliated in front of the entire floor as they were rushed up to the central towers to be locked up.

This is the chapel right in between the contract
room and the Pavilion.

Today, la Lonja is a modern museum used to take people back a time when it was a center of Valencian economic prosperity. Since 1996, it has been considered a World Heritage Site. Like the Central Market, La Lonja serves as a symbol of a time when people united on a global scale to exchange culture and network. It is a symbol of the height of Valencia's economic position and a power.

As for me, I personally found the architecture of la Lonja to be fascinating. I had never seen such wonderfully wound spiral columns like the ones in the Contract Room. Perhaps one of my favorite parts was seeing the beautiful gold encrusted ceiling on the third floor of the Pavilion. I think what also took my breathe was just how much history and meaning was packed into such small building, that seems so hidden from everywhere else. I mean, I was standing in a room where world class merchants once stood. Breathtaking.

A Cross above the entry way to the
Central Tower

~Christian "Macho" Camacho