La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia
Late Gothic silk exchange with helical stone columns rising above a merchants' trading floor.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to La Lonja de la Seda in Valencia opens inside the Sala de Contratacion, the silk exchange's trading hall, where eight stone columns spiral upward in a shape stonemason Pere Compte began carving in 1483, after twenty-five houses were cleared to make room. You'll hear how Valencia's silk merchants wanted a hall grand enough to shame every rival port, and how the same complex held a tower that, from 1498, served as a merchants' court ruling on shipping disputes without the crown's involvement. Listen for how that court's power reached beyond the deals made on the trading floor.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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