The now-vanished Royal Palace was unquestionably one of the most prominent buildings of the many built in the city of Valencia, and paradoxically it is perhaps one of the most ignored or unknown buildings. Nonetheless, throughout its extensive history it has undergone several types of building forms in different periods – from its beginnings as a recreational Arab palace to its conversion into a palace for the Christian kings of the Crown of Aragon during the Middle Ages, to viceroy’s residence in the Modern Age and the home of the Captaincy General until its demolition in 1810.  All these centuries conceal a lengthy history interwoven with numerous interventions, expansions and reforms, making it the recipient of an accumulation of architectural experiences.

 

Its wholesale destruction in 1810, justified by the need to defend Valencia from the French invasion, led to the fact that of its memory there only remain to us a handful of names such as the Puente del Real, the bridge over the river that connected the palace with the city, the Llano del Real, a space that extends out in the guise of an enormous square across from its vast façade, and Jardines del Real, public gardens that were planted on the former site of the palace.

 

Otherwise, graphic references to the palace were not very widely known either – several incomplete maps, plain images on general maps of the city, or relatively late engravings of the main façade. All of this, along with the lack of an in-depth historical or architectural analysis, had resulted in virtually complete lack of knowledge, with the exception of the gardens¹, which had been especially praised by foreign visitors, and several anecdotal features, especially the zoological collection housed by the Royal Place, which featured lions, bears, deer, pheasants and peacocks, and was also the object of admiration.

 

Little by little this neglect came to be resolved via a more scientific approach to the building. When the street was dug up in 1986 in order to place a collector, it left a small part of the remainders of the palace in plain view for a while, where archaeological investigation was undertaken and the corresponding plans – albeit very partial – were drawn up, as the remains were once again covered². Later, the graphic matter through which the Royal Palace is known were analysed, and an initial study was performed based on new information from the archive which showed the richness of the documentation conserved about the building³. This has been augmented more recently by the publication of plans that were ordered to be drawn up in 1802 on the eve of its demolition⁴. These plans, added to those published previously – especially the floor plan dating from the 16^th century⁵ and one from 1761⁶ – would now be examined and compared with a painstaking survey of the vast documentation housed by different archives. Once duly analysed, these records allows for a much more rigorous examination of the building, such as the one in this text, which is a foretaste of a much more extensive and comprehensive book that is about to be published⁷.