One of the iconic structures in Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences is L’Umbracle. This striking building stands out with its skeletal design and the lively music that drifts from it on warm summer nights.
The design
The original idea of Santiago Calatrava behind the design of L’Umbracle was to create a grand entrance to the City of Arts and Sciences. That’s why the structure features a long passage measuring 320 meters in length and 60 meters in width. Along its entire span, skeletal arches rise up to 18 meters high.
The vision was that ivy would eventually climb to the top of these arches, creating natural shade over the gardens below. However, due to the intense Mediterranean sun, the ivy burned before it could grow high enough and the concept of a shaded city park was never fully realized. L’Umbracle has been open to the public since 2001.
A beautiful garden
Although L’Umbracle did not become the city park as they expected it to be, the designers did their best to make the garden as beautiful as possible. Every plant and tree that grows here is specially selected, with the characteristic that they change colours every season. You will find large but also small palms that are playfully planted together to create depth, orange trees, different climbing and soil plants and last but not least scented plants such as lavender and rosemary. The entire garden covers about half of L’Umbracle.
Late night
During the day L’Umbracle is a beautiful building to admire, but even in the evening it does not disappoint. The skeleton structure is often illuminated playfully so that it looks even more impressive than during the day. From May through October, the other side of L’Umbracle even transforms into a nightclub! Every weekend you can party here late into the night or better said, early into the morning. Visitors, especially young people, enjoyed dancing between the palm trees and under the stars. Underground in the basement of L’Umbracle, however, there is a Club called MYA, which is open the whole year.
Tip
- Book a guided walking tour in Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.
- Love going out and want to dance among the palm trees? Check the calendar on this website to see when the next party takes place!