Valencia Trip - General Military Stuff

Valencia Trip - General Military Stuff

Debbie and I had a five day trip to Valencia - very impressive. 

As always I`m alwways looking out for military history related stuff (as all regular readers of my rubbish probably do) 😁Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, located on the banks of the Turia River, the site was founded by the Romans around 138 BC; During the Reconquista the city was captured by the Aragonese and became the captial of Kingdon of Valencia 1238.  

Captain General`s Palace

Used by the Cities military governor, The French also used it as their HQ during the Penninsula War 

Torres de Serranos

The huge North gate into the medieval city

Built upon previous fortifications started by the Arabs, the towers were constructed around 1390, later used as a prison and during the SCW it was used to store and protect artworks from the Prado museum which were stored in a specially constructed concrete cellar with 90cm thick walls beneath the towers.

Torres de Quart

Note the shell marked outer walls

The groove where the portcullis once ran

The old Western gateway to the medieval city, constructed as part of an expansion to the city walls, work was completed in 1460, though the massive gates weren`t actually installed until 1489.

In 1562, the towers weredesignated as a general storehouse for weapons and gunpowder. Later still in 1585 it became a temporay prison and in 1649 became a womans prison "La Galera".

During the War of Independence in 1808, the towers were besieged by the forces of Marshal Moncey, the scars of his cannon shot can still be seen!

1/87th scale model of the towers under attack by the French taken at the Military History Museum

During the Carlist War in 1873, the towers were once again bombarded this time by the artillery of the First Republic!

The towers were still used as a prison until 1947!

You will notice the two upper floors are open on the side facing the city. This feature which is also found in the Torres de Serranos above; it is believed that this was a deliberate feature to make the towers if captured by attackers vulnerable to fire from within the city and limit their use and value to the enemy once captured!

Centenery plaque 

Dedicated to those Valencians who died during Spanish-American War 1898

This can be found on the wall of the Capilla de San Vicente with is next to the Captain General`s palace

The Museum of Sciences

This is a fascinating building full of interesting exhibits and interactive stuff all inside the most fantastic modern structure which stands in the Turia Parque (which runs through the city) among a number of other fantastic structures and buildings - well worth the time and you won`t regret it.

But there are only a few military exhibits, when we were there (January 2026) they had a large area dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) a truly absorbing series of exhibits and displays telling the story of the great mans life, his art and science. Among Leonardo`s many skills, he was a highly skilled military engineers and created many weapons and plans for others. The exhibition had a number of 1/4 scale models of some of these.

Revolving, multi-barreled cannon

Multi-barrel cannon

Tank

Steam powered cannon

Milan fighter 

Hanging high above galleries is this aircraft

It was only when I took this photo from the 3rd floor gallery I saw the "flying duck" badge, now this to me looks just like the symbol used by the Blue Squadrons which served in Russia in WW2!

 

"Pusher" Bi-plane

Also hanging high above the galleries, this is an example of Spain`s early military aviation