The historic centre of Valencia, one of the largest in Europe, can also boast of antiquity: 2000 years of history contemplate a city that has been home to Romans, Visigoths and Muslims since it was founded in the year 138 before Christ.
The footprint of this history invariably appears when an excavation is undertaken. The urban subsoil of Valencia is a paradisiacal quarry for architects, not so much for builders.
Those centuries of history are present in the Palacio Vallier building, built in the very centre of the city in 1890 by Salvador Monmeneu, who was commissioned by a wealthy landowner named Francisco Royo.
The palace, located in the Plaza de Manises in the old town, has as its neighbours the government buildings that house the Valencian Government and the Provincial Council. After being built as a private home, it has been used for such varied purposes as the headquarters of the Supreme Court in the times of the Second Republic, as premises of the Casa Americana, and as a complementary building of the Provincial Council of Valencia.