Museu d'Història de València (MHV)

The Valencia History Museum (MHV) sums up the city's 2,000-plus years at a glance, from the Roman Valentia founded in 138 BC to contemporary València. The surprise starts with the building itself: the museum occupies the city's first drinking-water reservoir, a brick cistern from the mid-19th century.

A remarkable building

Opened around 1850, this reservoir, a notable example of 19th-century Valencian industrial architecture, was dug below ground level and roofed with eleven brick vaults resting on some 250 pillars. The result is an almost hypnotic forest of repeating arches, restored between 1998 and 2001 to open as a museum in 2003. It straddles the boundary of València and the municipality of Mislata, facing the old Turia riverbed.

What to see

• The chronological journey through Roman Valentia, the Islamic madina, the Christian conquest, the golden age and the modern city.
• The "màquina del temps" (time machine), an audiovisual device that, once you pick an era, shows what the city looked like at that moment.
• Models, archaeological objects and scenes of everyday life from each period.

Practical tips

Admission is free on Sundays, which makes it a complete cultural outing. It's easy to reach by metro (lines stopping in Mislata) and several bus routes; allow one to two hours. Do it early in your trip: understanding the history here gives plenty of context for later visiting the Almoina, the Silk Exchange or the Cathedral.

A nice curiosity: walking through this old cistern, built to supply the city with water, fits the museum itself, which now holds the memory of València instead. It's a good fit among the free plans and pairs well with the València in 3 days route.