Serranos and Quart towers: Valencia's surviving medieval gates
Valencia: historical walking tour in El Carmen neighbourhood
What are the Torres de Serranos and Torres de Quart in Valencia?
They are the two surviving gates of Valencia's 14th–15th century city walls. The Torres de Serranos (1398) in the north and the Torres de Quart (1460) in the west are the most significant medieval military architecture in Valencia. Entry is €2 each (free Sundays). Both can be visited in one morning.
Of the twelve gates that pierced Valencia’s medieval walls, two survived the wholesale demolition of 1865: the Torres de Serranos to the north and the Torres de Quart to the west. Both were spared by narrow civic votes at a time when most Spanish cities were tearing down their walls to enable 19th-century urban expansion. Both are in remarkable condition, both are accessible to visitors, and both charge €2 — one of the best value experiences in the city.
Background: Valencia’s medieval walls
The walls that enclosed Valencia’s medieval city were constructed between 1356 and 1398, prompted by the threat of Castilian invasion during the War of the Two Peters. The circuit ran for approximately 4.5 km, enclosed an area of about 180 hectares, and was punctuated by 12 gates and numerous towers. At completion, the walls enclosed one of the largest cities in Iberian Europe.
The walls survived as a complete defensive circuit until the 19th century, when the Valencia city council voted in 1865 to demolish them as part of a programme of urban modernisation. The demolition vote carried by a majority of one, and a subsequent amendment to preserve the two most impressive gates — Serranos and Quart — carried by the same margin. The stone from the walls was reused in construction throughout the expanding city; the line of the old circuit is still partially traceable in the street pattern.
Torres de Serranos: the northern gate
The Torres de Serranos was built between 1392 and 1398 by the architect Pere Balaguer. It served as the northern gate of the city — the formal entrance for important visitors, royal processions, and merchants arriving from Zaragoza and beyond. The gate was ceremonially significant: the entry of the Aragones king into Valencia traditionally passed through this gate.
Architecture: Two octagonal limestone towers, each rising to about 26 metres, connected by a central battlemented wall with a central archway. The gate faces north across a small plaza and the former riverbed (now the Turia Gardens). The towers are built in the Valencian Gothic style — the same idiom as the Cathedral and the Lonja de la Seda built in the same period.
The interior: The gate interior is a single open ceremonial space on the ground level. The walls are bare stone; the vault is Gothic. Interpretive panels in Spanish and English explain the construction sequence and the gate’s historical role.
The roof: The staircase to the battlemented rooftop is accessible with your ticket. The views from the top take in the Turia Gardens to the north (with the medieval bridges visible along the park), the old city to the south (the Cathedral Miguelete is prominent), and the Fine Arts Museum and Jardines del Real to the northeast.
Prison history: Between the 18th century and 1887, the Torres de Serranos served as the city prison. Prisoners were held in the lower chambers of the gate — you can see carved graffiti from this period on the interior stone. Some inscriptions are dated; the oldest clearly legible ones are from the early 19th century.
Festival use: During Las Fallas, the Torres de Serranos is used as the viewing platform for the Crida ceremony — the official opening of the festival — when the Fallera Mayor (festival queen) addresses the city from the tower battlements. This is one of the most photogenic and culturally significant events of Las Fallas, and the tower is the setting.
Torres de Quart: the western gate
The Torres de Quart (also called Torres de Cuarte) was built between 1441 and 1460, approximately four decades after the Serranos. The architects were Francesc Baldomar and Pere Compte (the same Compte who later designed the Lonja de la Seda). The Quart towers were modelled on the Castel Nuovo in Naples, reflecting Valencia’s political and cultural ties to the Aragonese Kingdom of Naples under Alfonso V.
Architecture: Where the Serranos is Gothic and ceremonial, the Quart towers are more massive and military in character. Two large circular towers — significantly heavier in proportion than the Serranos — flank the western gate arch. The towers have crenellated parapets and deep-set windows positioned for defensive shooting.
The bombardment damage: The exterior walls of the Torres de Quart carry clearly visible impact damage. There are two historical layers: large circular holes from the Napoleonic artillery bombardment of 1808 (when French forces besieged Valencia), and smaller modern shrapnel patterns from the Spanish Civil War (1936–39, when Valencia was the seat of the Republican government and subject to Nationalist bombing). The damage was deliberately left unrepaired — a decision formalized in the restoration of the 1980s — as physical evidence of the building’s wartime history. The result is one of the most visually direct examples of conflict archaeology visible to visitors in Spain.
The interior: The Quart towers contain more interpretive content than the Serranos — small display panels on the ground floor cover the history of the city walls, the construction sequence, and the specific history of both sieges that damaged the building. The rooms are accessible on a self-guided basis.
The roof: The rooftop views from the Quart towers face west and north — useful for orientation toward the modern city, the IVAM, and the El Carmen neighbourhood that fills the space between the two towers.
Practical information
Torres de Serranos opening hours:
- Tuesday–Saturday: 09:30–19:00
- Sunday and holidays: 09:30–15:00
- Closed Mondays
Torres de Quart opening hours:
- Tuesday–Saturday: 09:30–19:00
- Sunday and holidays: 09:30–15:00
- Closed Mondays
Ticket prices (both):
- Adult: €2 each
- Reduced: €1 each (students, seniors, groups)
- Under 12: free
- Sunday: free for all
Combined visit: The walk between the two towers along the southern edge of El Carmen takes 15 minutes through streets with notable street art, passing the Carrer dels Cavallers (medieval Knights’ Street) and several historic church facades.
The walk between the two towers
The route between the Serranos and Quart towers along the inner line of the old walls is one of the best 20-minute urban walks in Valencia. Take Carrer de Quart from the Serranos, then turn south on Carrer dels Cavallers — the medieval axis of the Barrio del Carmen, with several of the best examples of 14th–16th century domestic architecture in the city — and arrive at the Quart towers from the east.
This route passes:
- Plaza del Tossal: The central hub of El Carmen, with café terraces
- Carrer dels Cavallers 22: The Palau de Benicarló, a late-medieval palace façade
- Several notable ceramic tile facades characteristic of El Carmen
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Combining with a guided tour
For visitors who want context for the towers’ construction, their role in Valencia’s defensive history, and the broader story of the medieval city walls, a guided El Carmen walking tour provides a framework that the self-guided panels at each tower cannot fully supply.
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For the complete context of medieval and historic Valencia — connecting the towers, the Cathedral, the Lonja de la Seda, and the Central Market — see the first weekend in Valencia itinerary and the El Carmen neighbourhood guide.
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