Calatrava's Valencia
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Port
Valencia, Spain
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Activity Level
Moderate Activity
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Excursion Type
All
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Wheelchair Accessible
No
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Starting At (prices in USD)
$220
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Minimum Age
Information Not Currently Available
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Duration
Approximately 3¾ Hours
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Meals Included
Meals not included
The city of Valencia is known for its dense monumental heritage, but its greatest architectural landmark may well be the relatively new City of Arts & Sciences -- an avant-garde and futuristic museum complex. World-renowned Valencia-born architect Santiago Calatrava produced the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. The complex contains an opera house/performing arts center, a science museum, an IMAX cinema/planetarium and an oceanographic park. Other structures include a long, covered walkway and restaurants. Calatrava is also responsible for the bridge named after him in the center of the city. The Music Palace (Palau de la Música) is another fascinating example of modern architecture in Valencia. On your tour you will feel and see Valencia through Calatrava's eyes as your guide explains from outside the buildings the technical and architectural wonders of three of the most important masterpieces of Calatrava:
The Umbracle:
This is the monumental access gateway to the City of Arts & Sciences. It is located on the south side of the complex alongside the El Saler dual carriageway, and is more than 1,000 feet long and almost 200 feet wide; it represents a novel solution to the parking requirements of the complex with great importance also having been given to its aesthetics. It is a viewpoint parade made up of a succession of 55 fixed arches and 54 floating arches that are 60 feet tall.
The Hemispheric:
This spectacular building represents an enormous human eye -- the eye of wisdom. It symbolizes the observation of the world that visitors discover by means of some quite surprising audiovisual presentations. With an area of 150,000 square feet, this was the first section in the City of Arts & Sciences to open to the public (1998). It has an ovoid roof 328 feet long within a large sphere that houses the projection hall. The inner area includes the Carl Sagan Perimeter. An ornamental six-acre lake surrounds this structure to create a complex of extraordinary beauty.
The Prince Felipe Museum:
The exterior of this museum captivates the visitor in its own right. The building is magnificent in its proportions and organic shapes, and houses a multitude of activities and initiatives related to the evolution of life and scientific and technological dissemination. It is unique in all the world for the geometry of the building, its structure, the materials used and the constant presence of nature within it. Inside the museum, architecture, engineering and art have a close relationship with science, technology and elegance of architectural forms. Thus the contents and the container achieve an overall coherence.
Please note: Use of an audio headset (included) will enhance your tour experience. The visit for the 3 complexes is external.