Torres de Serranos

Historia

The Serrans Gate or Serranos Gate, also known as Serrans Towers or Serranos Towers is one of the twelve gates that formed part of the ancient city wall, the Christian Wall, of the city of Valencia, Spain. It was built in Valencian Gothic style at the end of the 14th century . Its name is probably due to its location in the northeast of the old city centre, making it the entry point for the royal road connecting Valencia with the comarca or district of Els Serrans 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 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, have survived. The Torres de Serrans were built in the 14th century, 1392, by Pere Balaguer. It was the main entrance to the city and it was originally built with a defensive function. From 1586 until 1887 the towers were used as a prison for nobles.