Llotja de la Seda

Silk Exchange
Native names
Catalan: Llotja de la Seda
Spanish: Lonja de Seda
Location Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain
Coordinates 39°28′27.9″N 0°22′42.4″W / 39.474417°N 0.378444°WCoordinates: 39°28′27.9″N 0°22′42.4″W / 39.474417°N 0.378444°W
Architect Pere Compte
Architectural style(s) Gothic
Renaissance
Official name: Lonja de la Seda de Valencia
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iv
Designated 1996　(20th session)
Reference no. 782
State Party  Spain
Region Europe and North America
Official name: Lonja de la Seda
Type Real property
Criteria Monument
Designated 3 June 1931
Reference no. (R.I.) - 51 - 0000968 - 00000
The Hall of Columns

The Llotja de la Seda (Valencian pronunciation: [ˈʎɔdʒa ðe la ˈseða], Spanish: Lonja de la Seda, English "Silk Exchange") is a late Valencian Gothic style civil building in Valencia, Spain, built between 1482 and 1548, and one of the principal tourist attractions in the city. The UNESCO considered it as a World Heritage Site in 1996 since "the site is of outstanding universal value as it is a wholly exceptional example of a secular building in late Gothic style, which dramatically illustrates the power and wealth of one of the great Mediterranean mercantile cities."[1]

Behind the current building, there was an earlier one from the 14th century, which was called the Oil Exchange (Llotja de l’Oli, in Valencian, or Lonja del Aceite, in Spanish). It was used not only for trading with oil, but for all kind of business. Where in 1348 was traded perxal (percale) as some kind of silk.[2]

Valencia's commercial prosperity reached its peak during the 15th century, and led to the construction of a new building.

The design of the new Lonja of Valencia was derived from a similar structure in the Lonja of Palma de Majorca, built by the architect Guillem Sagrera in 1448. The architect in charge of the new Lonja was Pere Compte, who built the main body of the building – the Trading Hall (or Sala de Contractació in Valencian) – in only fifteen years (1483–1498). So is written in a blue band that runs along all four walls of the Trading Hall, also called "Hall of Columns". It proclaims in golden letters the following inscription:

Inclita domus sum annis aedificata quindecim. Gustate et videte concives quoniam bona est negotiatio, quae non agit dolum in lingua, quae jurat proximo et non deficit, quae pecuniam non dedit ad usuram eius. Mercator sic agens divitiis redundabit, et tandem vita fructur aeterna.[3]

According to the local Valencian scholar Joan Francesc Mira, this inscription showed that it was not a necessary to be a Protestant or a foreigner to establish the basis of a good trade; it also showed the union of ethics and economy. Other construction and decoration works lumbered on until 1548, such as the Consolat del Mar (Consulate of the Sea), a Renaissance building adjoined to La Lonja.

During subsequent centuries, La Lonja functioned as a silk exchange. The honesty of its traders is honored by the inscription that runs around the main contract hall.

References

  1. ↑ "La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  2. ↑ Diccionari Aguiló: materials lexicogràfics / aplegats per Marià Aguiló i Fuster; revisats i publicats sota la cura de Pompeu Fabra i Manuel de Montoliu, page 134, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 1929.
  3. ↑ "I am an illustrious house built in fifteen years. Try and See, fellow-citizens, how negotiation is such a good thing when there is no lie in the speech, when it swears to the neighbour and does not deceive him, when it does not lend money with an interest charge for its use. The merchant who acts this way will prosper galore and at the end he will enjoy the eternal life.

External links

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