Page 14 - La Ribera de Xúquer

Recently, the inside of the Church has been restored and the The interior of the hermitage is a great space of square plant
front and the principal door had been recovered. that contains four naves with Greek cross shape. The
Close to the Church is located the former Town hall. In the architecture and the decoration are of neoclassic style. In 1995
past it was a house ceded by the duke of El Infantado in order the building was recovered.
that the former jury and after the Succession War, the In more punctual areas of the village we find the following
councilors could celebrate the town hall meetings. The monumental vestiges:
economic development of the population in the 18th century The former cistern or aljibe of Arabic origin, which was
and the scanty debt the town hall had made possible that, at supplying of water the village up to the 19th century, is placed
the end of century, they requested the planes of the new in the square plaza de la Constitución. With an approximate
building to the architect Vicent Gascó, the same one who surface of 500 m², it is one of the major existing cisterns in the
built the current Courthouse of Valencia. The building Valencian Community. Its rehabilitation has begun.
finished the year 1789. Of rectangular floor, it has three floors. The washing place has suffered different reforms. The first
In the main floor we find the room of the town hall meetings. news about the building dates back of 1722. But the fountain
Nowadays, after a complete rehabilitation, the building and the drinking trough were built the year 1849. The most
receives the Historical Municipal Archives, and in the ground spectacular work was the cover of the washing place with a
floor, an exhibitions room. In the noble floor, a use has not metal framework in 1884, requested to the architect Antonio
been defined. Martorell Trilles, the same that realized the market in 1893 -
The convent of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles was founded in covered also with an iron structure - demolish at the
1689 to be home of religious minors Capuchins of the Order beginning of the decade of 1970. In 1959, a strong wind it
of San Francisco. The building was posterior. The convent knocked down the cover of the washing place and, the
was having a wide church and a cloister, in which nowadays a following year, the new one was built of concrete.
public college is located, constructed between 1908 and 1909. In the square of the Master Magenti there is a lordly house,
In the front was discovered an altarpiece of painted ceramic with the shield picado, former residence of the Ortizá that is
that represents the appearance of Nuestra Señora de los one of the Alberic's most powerful families in the 18th
Ángeles to San Francisco. After the first action, in which the century. In front is the Hospital, which, in spite of being a
cover was changed and they some unfortunate interventions modern construction, has its origin in a private initiative of
were made inside, the building waits for completing the the 18th century, when the merchant Jaime Lagrave, resident
rehabilitation. in Alberic, left in his testament money for the foundation of
Across the account books, we know that it was not a question the center. Later, also in the 18th century, the Hospital was
of a numerous community. It was integrated only by five or increased by the donation of the archdeacon of Alzira, Pedro
six friars, which lived in the convent until the expropriation of Mayoral, who also left money for the work in his testament in
1835. In 1842, the building was ceded to the town hall to 1775. More recently, in 1877, las Hijas de la Caridad took
locate the colleges of primary education. In a report made in charge of the Hospital, devoting themselves also for the
1871 for the mayor Constantino Candel, there is revealed that education.
the building that was a Capuchins' convent destined to a In the square plaza Vera we can see an ancient house of
college of elementary education, a musical academy, lordly aspect that was a property of the Duke del Infantado in
prisoners' municipal warehouse, station of the Guardia Civil the 18th century. The same century, in the suburbs of the
and, a part of it, for theatre casino. village, was passing the Royal way of Valencia to Madrid,
The hermitage of the Virgen de la Cullera is placed in an where stay three significant vestiges. The most important was
ancient neighborhood calle La Troneta, in which it is possible a suburb or neighborhood of houses, placed nowadays in the
to observe the construction of a few modest houses. In the avenue avenida de Ramon y Cajal, where still remain in a
main facade it is possible to contemplate an altarpiece of facade the shields of the Duke del Infantado. Following the
ceramics with the name of the Virgin, in which also appears same way towards Xátiva, to the suburbs of the village, we
before, the date of 1953. The hermitage presents a bell wall find a boundary cross, which is reflected in Roxas's map of
with two bells, recently modified; the former was of baroque 1764. Following the Royal way, in Gavarda's municipal area, it
style. Of both bells we can say that one is of 1742 and other is possible to contemplate an unfinished bridge that began to
one does not have any reference, which does not mean that be built in 1796, project that did not plan a correct detour of
the construction should be of the 18th century, but that the the course of the river. Also it is necessary to do a tour for of
bell might have be taken from another church. the shopping streets, which begins in the square plaza de la
In the mound calle la Montañeta, we can find the hermitage Constitución, where we can admire the most beautiful
of Santa Bárbara, construction of the middle of the 18th modernist perfectly preserved house. Also is advisable to
century by popular subscription and the most emblematic cross the street calle San Antonio, where there are traditional
place of the population. Already in 1742 there are evidences houses of the 19th century, with the eyes that air the garrets
that the neighbors are contributing with donations for the where they were putting to dry the silkworms, and at the
building, which concludes in 1759. beginning of the street we find another modernist, worse
preserved building and that has lost the structure of the
ground floor. Later we will pass for the street calle Rafael

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