Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània (CCCC)

The Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània (CCCC) is València's contemporary art centre, one of those places where the building matters as much as what's inside it. It occupies the former Royal Monastery of Our Lady of Carmen, a Carmelite community founded in 1281, in the historic heart of the Barri del Carme, the old quarter the convent itself gave its name to.

History and architecture

The building is a palimpsest of centuries: a medieval Gothic chapel, a Gothic cloister and a second Renaissance cloister, plus the adjoining church, now the parish of Santa Creu. After centuries of changing uses, including decades housing first the Museum of Fine Arts and later part of the IVAM, it reopened in 2017 as the CCCC with a clear idea: to be a living centre of contemporary creation, not just an exhibition hall.

What to see and expect

• The temporary exhibitions, which rotate often: visual art, installations, photography, design, performance.
• The two cloisters, open to wander and, on their own, a pocket of calm amid the buzz of the Carme.
• A parallel programme of film, music, dance, micro-theatre and talks.

Practical tips

Admission is always free, so you can drop in as often as you like, even just to sit in the cloister. It usually opens Tuesday to Sunday and closes on Mondays. It's a short walk from the IVAM, the tiny Cats' House and San Nicolás, so it fits into an afternoon of art and wandering.

A nice quirk: a 13th-century convent being now one of the city's most experimental spaces is very much the Carme's style. It's a solid pick from the guide to free things to do in València, and fits into any what-to-do route; if you love art, pair it with more hidden corners of the neighbourhood.