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The Contemporary Art Museum Built Over a Roman Circus

Kiefer and Lichtenstein across seventeen rooms of a 17th-century palace, and the racetrack that surfaced when the floor came up.

🇪🇸 Leer en español

The three-venue pass sold here is a false economy unless all three get used. San Nicolás costs 16 euros and the Hortensia Herrero 12, so the pair comes to 28 against a 32 euro pass. What most visitors do not expect is waiting under the floor of the Palacio de Valeriola.

How much is the Hortensia Herrero Art Centre? The Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero charges 12 euros general and 10 for groups of ten or more, and Wednesday afternoons are free. It fills 17 rooms of the Palacio de Valeriola, where the restoration uncovered remains of the Roman circus beneath the building.

When the three-venue pass is a false economy

The combined ticket is sold at San Nicolás for €32, or €25 reduced, covering that church, this centre and Santos Juanes, valid for 5 days. The five-day window is generous and the price is not.

Run the numbers before buying. San Nicolás is €16 and the Hortensia Herrero €12, which totals €28 for the two — four euros below the pass. Only the third venue tips the balance, so the pass rewards completists rather than anyone pairing two interiors on a short trip.

Venue in the passSingle ticketNotes
San Nicolás€16 online€18 if bought at the door
Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero€12€10 for groups of ten or more
Santos Juanesprice not publishedthird of the three
Any two of them separately€28undercuts the €32 pass
The pass itself€32€25 on the reduced rate
Which purchase wins at each number of venuesThe pass only overtakes separate tickets at the third venue, so the decision depends on the count and not on the days available.How many venues?one or twoall threebuy singles, 28 eurosbuy the pass, 32 euros
Two doors and the pass loses; three and it wins, with nothing in between.

Twelve euros, and nothing on Wednesday afternoons

Standard admission is €12, dropping to €10 for groups of ten or more, on Visit València’s listing. A guided visit runs daily at 10:30 for €15 and takes the place of the ordinary ticket rather than being added to it.

The useful exception is weekly. Wednesday afternoons are free, which puts the Hortensia Herrero outside the pattern the rest of the city follows, where the free sessions cluster on Sunday mornings as the guide to museums that charge nothing sets out.

Against the surrounding district, €12 lands high without topping the scale. It is well above the €2 at La Lonja and the €3 at the ceramics museum, and level with the cathedral and its chalice.

Admission across the old-town museumsTwelve euros places the centre with the cathedral and far above the two cheapest doors in the district.La Lonja2 eurosceramics museum3 euroscathedral12 eurosHortensia Herrero12 euros
Four times the ceramics museum and six times La Lonja, for a collection assembled in this century.

Hours run Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 20:00, with Sunday 10:00 to 15:00 and Mondays closed. Sunday is therefore a half day, which rules out any plan built around a long afternoon.

A Roman circus under the floor

The find sits below everything else. Visit València places remains of the Roman circus in the basement, uncovered while the palace was being restored, and the centre’s own site describes ground that stacks Roman, Visigothic, Islamic and Christian occupation.

That turns the building into a vertical section of the city. Above are works from the last seventy years; below is the track of a circus running when Valencia was a Roman colony; between them a 17th-century nobleman’s house with its own decoration intact.

What sits at each level of the buildingThe oldest element of the visit is below street level, which reverses the usual order of a museum.street level and aboveover 100 contemporary works, 17 roomsthe palace fabric, coffered ceilings and tilebelow street levelRoman circus remains
The oldest thing in the museum hangs on no wall at all.

The setting is the former Palacio de Valeriola, a 17th-century building at Calle del Mar 31 that Visit València describes with its coffered ceilings and Valencian tilework preserved. Across that base run 17 rooms in two connected buildings, one of them a modern wing given over to digital art.

The collection holds more than 100 contemporary works. The municipal listing names Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies and Manolo Valdés on the Spanish side and Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer and Roy Lichtenstein internationally, so the route crosses schools and decades rather than following one line.

That mixture of container and contents is what distinguishes the visit. A 17th-century ceiling and a digital art room share the same ticket, and the building reads as another layer of the collection instead of a neutral shell around it.

Frequently asked questions about the Hortensia Herrero centre

How much does the Hortensia Herrero art centre cost?

Twelve euros general admission and €10 for groups of ten or more, on Visit València’s listing. Wednesday afternoons are free, and a guided visit runs daily at 10:30 for €15, which replaces the standard ticket rather than adding to it.

Is the three-venue combined ticket worth buying?

Only if you use all three. The pass costs €32 for San Nicolás, this centre and Santos Juanes over 5 days, but San Nicolás at €16 plus this one at €12 comes to €28, so two venues are cheaper bought separately.

What is in the basement of the museum?

Remains of the Roman circus, uncovered while the palace was being restored. The site stacks Roman, Visigothic, Islamic and Christian layers, so a building showing work from the last seventy years rests on close to two thousand years of city.

A palace of the sixteen hundreds serves as a display case for the art of right now and as a lid on a Roman racetrack.

Reinel González

We update this guide periodically. If you manage a space mentioned here, want to correct information, or explore a collaboration, write to us at hola@valenciaurbana.com.