Palacio de Las Artes Reina Sofía
Curved white opera house shaped like a peeling shell, rising from a riverbed drowned by flood.
Location
About this audio guide
The guide to Palau de les Arts in Valencia begins with the river that used to run beneath your feet, the Turia, which flooded catastrophically one night in October 1957, killing eighty-one people and pushing the city to reroute the water outside town. It follows the drained, empty channel through decades of neglect until the 1990s, when Valencia handed the site to architect Santiago Calatrava to build an opera house on the old riverbed. It also traces the building's rocky opening years, including a stage collapse and a flood that reached its halls. Stand by the water Calatrava added on purpose, and look up at the shell-like panels overhead.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
Futurist cultural complex of curved white shells clad in ceramic mosaic, spanning a museum, opera house and aquarium.
Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe
Whale-shaped science museum of glass and concrete ribs on a former riverbed, with three floors of interactive exhibits.
Hemisfèric
Eye-shaped IMAX cinema and planetarium with an aluminum shutter that opens over a reflecting pool.
L'Àgora
Futurist covered plaza by Santiago Calatrava, once a tennis arena, now a cultural center.
El Umbracle
Landscaped walkway of alternating white arches over a hidden car park, lined with open-air sculptures.
Jardín del Turia
Sunken riverbed park of pine groves and paths where a diverted river once flowed through the city.