Calle de Colón: The Grand Commercial Boulevard of the Eixample
Why is it significant?
Stroll along the broad, shaded sidewalk of Calle de Colón and take in the energetic, colorful parade of shoppers alongside the stately nineteenth-century bourgeois architecture.
Key Facts
| Place | Calle de Colón: The Grand Commercial Boulevard of the Eixample |
|---|---|
| Address | Carrer de Colón, 22, 46004 València, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 39.46750, -0.37350 |
| Part of Walk | Valencia's Creative Ruzafa and Eixample Modernism: Colón Market and Bohemian Streets |
| Generated | Generated |
Stroll along the broad, shaded sidewalk of Calle de Colón and take in the energetic, colorful parade of shoppers alongside the stately nineteenth-century bourgeois architecture. This grand twenty-five-meter-wide boulevard was laid out in 1868 directly over the outer ditch of Valencia's medieval Christian walls. The ancient fortifications had been demolished in 1865 by visionary civil governor Cirilo Amorós, an ambitious initiative designed to employ thousands of impoverished laborers while freeing the historic center from its suffocating stone corset to allow hygienic expansion southward.
The new avenue immediately became the golden border separating the narrow lanes of the ancient walled city from the orderly, orthogonal grid of the newly planned bourgeois Ensanche. Wealthy landowners who made fortunes in citrus exportation and silk manufacturing competed to commission prestigious architects to build luxurious apartment palatial houses along its length, creating an eclectic showcase of neo-Gothic, French second-empire, and Art Nouveau styles. Today, this vibrant avenue represents the beating commercial heart of the modern metropolis, where international flagship stores occupy ground floors beneath grand historic balconies.
Look up above the gleaming modern shop windows of international fashion houses to admire decorative wrought-iron balconies, ornate stone pediments carved with acanthus leaves, and polygonal glass bay windows. Notice the chamfered building corners cut at precise forty-five-degree angles, a deliberate urban planning innovation conceived to ensure visibility and turning room for horse-drawn carriages at every intersection.
During deep subterranean excavations for the metropolitan subway line in 1995, municipal archaeologists uncovered remarkably intact ashlar foundations and defensive moat walls belonging to the medieval San Vicente Gate, alongside pottery shards and iron crossbow bolts dating to the fourteenth century.
Turn right along Calle Pascual y Genís to step away from the commercial bustle into the tranquil, aristocratic residential elegance of Calle Cirilo Amorós.