To begin this audio guide, you have to know that between the fourteenth century and the second half of the nineteenth century, Valencia was surrounded by a great medieval wall. And it didn’t end up falling, no; it was simply decided to demolish it so that the city could grow more freely, following the custom of many other walled places. And it is that between the practical matters and the historical treasures, almost always, the first ones end up winning.
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To begin this audio guide, you have to know that between the fourteenth century and the second half of the nineteenth century, Valencia was surrounded by a great medieval wall. And it didn’t end up falling, no; it was simply decided to demolish it so that the city could grow more freely, following the custom of many other walled places. And it is that between the practical matters and the historical treasures, almost always, the first ones end up winning.
Luckily in this capital, there are still some remains, and not any remains! Because what is left standing are two of the fortified gates that once formed part of Valencia’s wall: the Serrano Towers, of which we talk about in another audio guide, and the Quart Towers.
The Middle Ages was beginning to decline when the masters Francesc Baldomar and Pere Compte worked hard to give the Quart Towers a Gothic form and a military efficiency. The name of Compte, by the way, is a household name in many of the historic buildings in the area, as he directed the works of several cathedrals and was responsible for the Lonja de la Seda (Silk Exchange) and the Consulado del Mar (Consulate of the Sea) of which we also tell you things in another of our audio guides.
They are buildings that the centuries, along with the human obsession of war, were going to put to the test, and of which we can say today that they have been able to bear it all. From the ancient sieges and battles to the carbon monoxide of the thousands and thousands of cars that circulate daily in the surrounding area.
Although, of all the stories of the Towers of Quart, surely none of them was as significant as that of the resistance that they opposed to the Napoleonic armies. The invading troops bombarded the Valencia bastions until they got bored, but the city and its walls held and held, and the evidence is there for you to see: a pile of cannon strikes that are perfectly visible all over the exterior.
The Towers have served for some other things throughout the years. Without going any further, they were used as a prison in different periods, and it seems that it was that use that saved them, at the time, from the demolition that was carried to the rest of the walls.
