Museu Faller (Museo Fallero)

The Museu Faller (Fallas Museum) is where the fire of the Fallas stops. It holds the pardoned ninots, the only figures spared each year from the flames of the cremà by popular vote. Visiting feels like flipping through a three-dimensional album of the festival: room by room you can see how the style, humour and craft of the Fallas artists have changed over nearly a century.

History

The museum opened in 1971 on Plaça de Montolivet, inside the former convent of the Casa Misión de San Vicente de Paúl, an 1831 building also known as the convent of the Paúl Fathers of Montolivet. The collection of large pardoned ninots begins in 1934, and the children's ninots in 1963: each figure is one a jury or the public decided deserved to survive the bonfire.

What to see

• The gallery of pardoned ninots arranged by year, a look at how Fallas craftsmanship has evolved.
• The winning and finalist posters of the Crida and the Fallas, a good record of Valencian graphic design over the decades.
• Portraits of València's Falleras Mayores, kept since 1995.

Practical tips

• It's in the Montolivet district, near the City of Arts and Sciences and Gulliver Park.
• General admission is cheap, and entry is free on Sundays and public holidays.
• If you can't make it in March, this is where the Fallas spirit still comes through; pair it with our festival calendar.

Insider tip

Look closely at the oldest ninots. Many visitors walk straight past them, but the ones from the 1930s and 1940s show striking craftsmanship and a sharp sense of humour about the life of their day. Pause at the children's figures too. They're often gentler and more inventive than the big ones. If the visit hooks you, follow it up with the Museu d'Etnologia to see the festival within Valencian popular culture, and plan your March around our guide to what to do in València.