Lonja de la Seda (The Silk Exchange), Valencia (must see)

Standing just across from the Central Market is one of Valencia’s great landmarks: the Silk Exchange. Face the building from the square, and you’ll see why this was no ordinary place of business. Built for the silk trade and later used for broader commercial activity, it became one of the great centers of Valencia’s Golden Age, with that prosperity expressed through dramatic Gothic stonework.

Before going inside, study the façade. Look along the walls for carved decoration, delicate tracery, and richly detailed windows. Then lift your gaze to the upper edges, where 28 gargoyles keep watch in the shape of winged creatures, beasts, and bats. Medieval architects, it seems, knew that even a trade building deserved a little theater.

Now look for the central tower, which helps divide the building into its main sections. This tower once contained a small chapel and, less charmingly, a debtor’s prison for merchants who failed to meet their financial obligations. In medieval Valencia, “business ethics” apparently meant praying upstairs and locking up bad payers nearby.

Once inside, use the tower as your point of reference. To the left, there were areas linked to maritime trade and early banking, including institutions that helped regulate commerce and support the building’s construction. Indeed, Valencia’s port, merchants, and money all worked together during the city’s most prosperous period.

Next, make your way upstairs to the Golden Hall. You’ll recognize it by its magnificent painted and gilded wooden ceiling, filled with musicians, prophets, and mythological creatures. Take your time and look up; this is Valencia showing off beautifully.

Then return toward the main interior space and head to the right of the tower, where you’ll find the true star: the Transactions Hall. You’ll know it by its eight soaring spiral columns, rising like twisted stone palm trees toward the vaulted ceiling. This was the main trading hall, though it feels less like an office and more like commerce having a spiritual awakening.

Along the walls, look for the carved inscription praising honest trade, keeping promises, and business without deceit or usury. In essence, it says: make money, but try not to be awful about it.

Before leaving, step into the courtyard and pause under the orange trees. After all that Gothic grandeur, moral advice, and medieval accounting pressure, a quiet moment in the shade is exactly what the merchants needed.