The exhibition, produced by the Chair Demetrio Ribes, is currently located in Dénia, where 61.031 visitors have been recorded from April 2025 to April 2026.

Organised by Luis Arciniega, the exhibition analyses the 16th- century watchtower defence system that protected the 500 kilometres of the Valencian coast.

The exhibition De Temor y Seda. Las torres de vigilancia de la costa has exceeded 100.000 visits during its itinerancy across the Valencian Community, establishing itself as one of the most welcomed cultural proposals in the territory.

The exhibition, produced by the Chair Demetrio Ribes and organised by Luis Arciniega, can be currently visited in Dénia. In this city, 61.031 visitors have been recorded from April 2025 to April 2026.

The project goes deep into the history of the watchtowers, which line the nearly 500 kilometres of the Valencian Community coastline. These buildings shape, since the mi-sixteenth century, a coordinated system of defence and sea control essential for protecting coastal population from pirate raids.

Fear of pirates and funding through silk

The title of the exhibition summarises the historical uniqueness of this defence system: its construction was driven by fear to pirate attacks, whereas its funding was possible thanks to the wealth generated by silk trade.

That period’s Generalitat (Valencian government) fostered the project applying a tax to the textile sector, using a management model considered pioneer in Hispanic kingdoms.

Scientific rigour and educational outreach

Directed by Luis Arciniega, the exhibition combines scientific rigour with a dissemination approach, accessible for all audiences. The journey includes graphic and audio-visual resources, presenting its contents in Valencian, Spanish, and English, to make the access easier both for local and international visitors.

A journey across the Valencian territory

Success among the public also responds to the itinerant and cross-disciplinary nature of this production of the Chair Demetrio Ribes, which approached this historical heritage to different municipalities across the Valencian Community.

Before its current location in Dénia, the exhibition has taken place in:

• Santa Pola
• Valencia
• Villajoyosa
• Benicarló
• Jávea
• Alicante
• Altea
• Callosa de Ensarriá

This heritage legacy, closely linked to sea and sailing safety, shapes now a cultural landscape of great historical and touristic value for the Valencian Community.