Museu de la Ciutat (Palau del Marqués de Campo)

The Museu de la Ciutat (City Museum), housed in the Palau del Marqués de Campo, is a museum you enjoy as much for what it holds as for the building that holds it. A few steps from the Cathedral, this elegant palace gathers the city's artistic heritage: painting, sculpture, ceramics and archaeology, in period rooms that keep the flavour of Valencian stately homes.

History and building

The palace is a 17th-century Baroque construction heavily remodelled in the 19th century, when it belonged to the family of the Marqués de Campo, one of the great businessmen of 1800s Valencia. Since 1983 it has held the municipal collections, which trace the history, art and identity of the city from medieval times to the present.

What to see

• Documents and pieces from the period of James I's conquest and the centuries that followed.
• A striking model of València's former Royal Palace, long since demolished.
• Rooms of Valencian painting and temporary exhibitions that change often.

Practical tips

• It's in the La Seu district, in the old town, easy to combine with the Almoina and the Silk Exchange.
• Open Tuesday to Sunday; admission is very cheap and free on Sundays and public holidays.
• Good for a culture morning without spending, following our guide to free things to do in València.

Insider tip

The building itself is the museum's finest exhibit: look up at the ceilings, the staircases and the period salons, which many visitors walk through without raising their eyes. The model of the old Royal Palace is a rarity that helps you picture the València that existed before the great urban transformations. On the way out you're a stroll from the Monforte Gardens and the monumental heart of the city; find more ideas in what to do in València.