Col·legi del Patriarca, Valencia

Col·legi del Patriarca is a former Roman Catholic school and seminary, built in Valencia’s old city opposite La Nau. The complex took shape from 1586 to 1615, under the direction of architect Guillem del Rey. Its rooms gather around a Renaissance cloister, with a church, chapel, library, sleeping quarters and classrooms.

From the street, the façade presents a marble entrance, paired columns and a gallery of small arches, while a bell tower marks the plaza corner. Part of the building now contains the Museum of the Patriarch. Its collection includes paintings by El Greco, Caravaggio and Francisco Ribalta, together with an original manuscript by Sir Thomas More. The building’s most striking story belongs to Margarita Agullona: Juan de Ribera housed the Franciscan mystic here for twenty-five years so he could witness her mystical raptures, and later had her remains brought here.