Torres de Serranos

39°28′45″N 0°22′33″W / 39.479293°N 0.375933°W / 39.479293; -0.375933

Exterior façade of the monumental Serrano gate, built in the 14th century.
View of the city-side approach.
Torres de Serranos and the city walls of Valencia in an old drawing.
The towers in 1870,[1] when they were a prison. Picture by Ainaud, commissioned by J. Laurent.

The Serrans Gate or Serranos Gate (Valencian: Porta dels Serrans, Valencian: [ˈpɔɾta ðels seˈrans]; Spanish: Puerta de Serranos, [ˈpweɾta ðe seˈranos]), also known as Serrans Towers or Serranos Towers (Valencian: Torres dels Serrans, Valencian: [ˈtorez ðels seˈrans]; Spanish: Torres de Serranos, [ˈtores ðe seˈranos]) is one of the twelve gates that formed part of the ancient city wall, the Christian Wall (Muralla cristiana), of the city of Valencia, Spain. It was built in Valencian Gothic style at the end of the 14th century (between 1392 and 1398). Its name is probably due to its location in the northwest of the old city centre, making it the entry point for the royal road (camí ral) connecting Valencia with the comarca or district of Els Serrans (along the road going northwest towards the mountains around Teruel and eventually leading to Saragossa) as well as the entry point for the royal road to Barcelona, or because the majority of settlers near there in the time of James I of Aragon were from the area around Teruel, whose inhabitants were often called serrans (mountain people) by the Valencians. Alternatively, the gate may also have been named after an important family, the Serrans, who lived in a street with the same name.

It is an important landmark and one of the best preserved monuments of Valencia. Of the ancient city wall, which was pulled down in 1865 on the orders of the provincial governor Cirilio Amorós, only the Serrans Towers, the 15th century Quart Towers, and some other archaeological remains and ruins, such as those of the Jewish Gate (Puerta de los Judíos), have survived.

  1. ^ José Huguet Chanzá et al., Las fotografías valencianas de J. Laurent, Valencia, Ayuntamiento de Valencia, 2003. ISBN 84-8484-069-7