The most important building development in the
University in the seventeenth century was the
construction of the new main entrance to replace the
original one, located in front of the chapel in the
Plaza del Patriarca, “facing the bakery that has a door
in the courtyard” (Orellana).
The archbishop Juan de Ribera obtained an order from the
municipal Council to have the original main door removed
and permanently walled up, and paid for a new entrance
to be built that gave on to University Street and “was
considered the sole main entrance, with a large coat of
arms of the City carved in stone above the entrance”.
During the eighteenth century this was the entrance used
by the San Carlos Royal Academy, which was located in
that part of the building at the time. When the Academy
moved out the coat of arms went with it, and is now
above the main entrance to the San Pío V Museum of Fine
Arts.
New halls of residence contributed to create a
university atmosphere in the district. The first of them
to be built was la Presentación, endowed in 1550 by the
archbishop Tomás de Villanueva to enable ten poor people
to study for the priesthood. There were also two halls
of residence with private patronage, la Asunción or Na
Monforte (1561), and la Purificación or de Rodríguez
(1572) that were for theologists. The best equipped of
them all was the Corpus Christi hall, founded in 1594 by
Juan de Ribera. King Felipe II ordered the San Jorge
hall to be built in 1563 for members of the Montesa
religious order, and doctor Melchor de Villena had the
Santos Reyes hall built (1643) for theology and medical
students.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the desire
to embellish the building and increase the institution’s
prestige led to some important improvements in the
rectory, the university theatre and the chapel, which
were contemporaneous with the historic Report on the
foundation and progress of the distinguished University
of Valencia (1730) published by the rector Francisco
Ortí, the first historian of the university, and the new
1733 Constitutions. |
Lecture theatre plan by Felipe Rubio, 1732 |
The university theatre, where Faculty meetings and
solemn discussions were held, was adapted and enlarged
after purchasing some adjacent market gardens from
Fernando Bonavida. The plan was designed by Felipe Rubio
in 1733 and gave the theatre a double entrance from the
rectoral courtyard. The grand partitioned vault,
reinforced by a series of arches supported by powerful
buttresses, was decorated with painted mouldings and the
walls were hung with portraits and inscriptions of
important people. |
The chapel was enlarged and rebuilt in classicist style
by Miguel Martínez and caused the admiration of the
chronicler Exclapés, who wrote: “finished on the 15th
of October 1737, the chapel is a precious pearl, and
sheltering on its altar the Soberana Aurora de la
Sapiencia1, becomes more majestic and
excellent”. (Historic summary of the foundation and
antiquity of Valencia, 1738.) |