Cathedral, Micalet Tower and Holy Chalice

Chapter 2/11 · València

The cathedral was consecrated in 1238, the very year of the conquest, in the old great mosque; work on the Gothic building began in 1262. That is why it has three doors in different styles: the Romanesque Palau door, the Gothic Apostles' door on Plaza de la Virgen, and the Baroque one in front of you, the Iron Door, designed by Konrad Rudolf in 1703. Its façade is concave, to look bigger in what was then a narrow street.

The octagonal tower is the Micalet, the cathedral's bell tower and a symbol of the city. It was begun in 1381 and finished in the early fifteenth century. It is 50.85 metres high up to the viewing terrace, exactly the same as its perimeter, and about 63 metres to the very top. It is named after its largest bell, the Micalet. You can climb it: there are 207 steps, and from the top you can see the whole city, the farmland and the sea.

Inside is the Holy Chalice, an agate cup from the first century AD. It is said to be the cup of the Last Supper, passed from Saint Peter to Rome, then to Huesca and to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña. What is documented is that King Alfonso the Magnanimous gave it to the cathedral in 1437; since 1916 it has had its own chapel, the former chapter house.

If you go in, look at the vault over the high altar too: it has angel musicians painted around 1474 by Paolo da San Leocadio and Francesco Pagano, hidden under a Baroque vault and rediscovered in 2004. Now we head down through Plaza de la Reina and along Carrer de Lluís Vives and Carrer de la Cultura to Carrer del Poeta Querol.

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