Iglesia y Torre de Santa Catalina (St. Cathline's Church and Tower), Valencia

Standing in one of Valencia’s most photogenic pockets, just off La Paz Street and a short stroll from Queen’s Plaza, the Church of Saint Cathline is one of the city’s oldest churches, with roots reaching back to the 13th century. Like many buildings in Valencia, it comes with a layered past: after the Christian reconquest of 1238, it was built on the site of a former mosque, then reshaped, repaired, damaged, restored, and generally kept busy by history...

The first thing likely to grab your attention here is the bell tower. Added much later, in the 18th century, it rises above the mainly Gothic structure like someone arriving at a medieval dinner party in full Baroque evening wear. Hexagonal, ornate, and 56 meters high, the tower is one of Valencia’s familiar skyline figures. Local tradition even says that it's “married” to the Cathedral’s Miguelete tower. Architecture, apparently, has a social life, too...

St. Cathline's has not had the easiest of journeys. A major fire in 1548 led to much of its interior being rebuilt in Baroque style. Then, during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the church suffered damage again. In the 1950s, restorers tried to peel back some of those later layers—a rather daring architectural rewind, carefully bringing the building closer to its original medieval self...

Before going in, look near the entrance for a small but curious detail: the sculpted head of Saint Eligius set into the wall. As the patron saint of metalworkers and goldsmiths, he points to the church’s old connection with Valencia’s silversmiths’ guild, which once maintained a chapel here. Inside, take your time with the side chapels, the surviving details, and the quiet sense of craftsmanship. St. Cathline's may have been through fire, war, and restoration, but it still manages to stand here with dignity—and a rather spectacular bell tower...