Originally a civil war monument
Raised for the war dead, then made the square's landmark — an odder story than it looks.
A square in central Valencia at the southern end of the Turia gardens, holding a stone arch bearing the name of the Sea Gate. The original gate was one of the gates of Valencia's medieval wall, named because it opened onto the road towards the port. It was demolished with the rest of the wall in the nineteenth century when the city expanded. What stands today is not the original gate but a twentieth-century replica raised on this site — in fact a monument to the dead of the Spanish Civil War, later repurposed as the square's landmark. That is worth stating, because many visitors take it for an ancient gate and it is not. The square itself is an important waypoint: it stands between the old city centre and the Turia gardens, Valencia's former riverbed after the river was diverted, running nine kilometres across the city as one continuous green space. The place is free and always open, a few minutes on your route rather than a destination.
Raised for the war dead, then made the square's landmark — an odder story than it looks.
The nine-kilometre green space across the city begins here.
The original gate opened onto the road towards the sea.
Between the Turia gardens and the city centre
Palacio del Marqués de Dos AguasAn aristocratic palace in central Valencia holding the national museum of cerami2 min walk
Municipal Historical MuseumA small museum inside Valencia's city hall, keeping the documents and symbols th3 min walk
Museo del PatriarcaA museum inside the Colegio del Corpus Christi in central Valencia, a sixteenth-3 min walk
La Nau Cultural CentreThe historic building of the University of Valencia in the city centre, working 3 min walk
Hortensia Herrero Art CentreA contemporary art centre opened in 2023 in the Palacio Valeriola in old central5 min walkThe old bed of the river Turia that ran through Valencia. After a devastating flood in 1957 the river was diverted south of the city, leaving the bed empty. Residents refused its conversion into a motorway and demanded a park, so it became a nine-kilometre green space ending at the City of Arts and Sciences.
The old city with its cathedral, the Miguelete tower, the UNESCO-listed silk exchange and the central market; the City of Arts and Sciences at the far end of the Turia gardens; and the Malvarrosa beach. The square is a point on the route between them rather than a destination.
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