Real Bridge: Ceremonial Entrance to the Medieval City
Why is it significant?
Stand before the carved stone shrines crowning the central parapets of the Real Bridge and admire the regal dignity of this Renaissance stone viaduct.
Key Facts
| Place | Real Bridge: Ceremonial Entrance to the Medieval City |
|---|---|
| Address | Plaça del Pont del Real, 46003 València, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 39.47640, -0.36880 |
| Part of Walk | Valencia's Turia Riverbed Park and Historic Bridges: From Gothic Stone to Modernist Steel |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand before the carved stone shrines crowning the central parapets of the Real Bridge and admire the regal dignity of this Renaissance stone viaduct. Built between 1595 and 1598 under master mason Joan Pasqual, this bridge was designed as the grandest ceremonial gateway to Valencia, directly linking the Royal Palace across the river with the walled city via the lost Portal del Real. It was commissioned after a catastrophic flood in 1517 shattered the earlier wooden crossing, requiring a stone structure of ten broad depressed arches capable of withstanding the fury of the river.
The two magnificent Baroque shrines resting upon the central piers were carved in 1603 to celebrate the royal wedding of King Philip the Third to Archduchess Margaret of Austria, held with lavish ceremonies in Valencia Cathedral. The shrines house revered stone statues of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the Dominican preacher whose sermons moved medieval Europe, and Saint Vincent Martyr, the early fourth-century Roman deacon who died as the city's foremost patron saint.
For centuries, every visiting monarch, foreign ambassador, or papal nuncio arriving in the Kingdom of Valencia was required by law to dismount on this bridge to swear solemn loyalty to the Valencian Fueros, or historic constitutional rights, before passing through the city gates. In 1877, the bridge deck was widened with decorative cast-iron brackets to accommodate the city's first mule-drawn passenger streetcars.
Touch the semicircular stone recesses carved into the parapet above each pier: they were designed by Renaissance masons as pedestrian safety refuges, allowing townspeople on foot to step safely out of harm's way as heavy four-horse cargo wagons and royal carriages rattled past over the uneven cobblestones.
Stroll southeast along the riverbed gardens toward the soaring, tilted white steel arch of the Exposition Bridge.