The Admiral's Baths Valencia - guided tour

Guided tours in the Admiral’s Baths Valencia

The bath house known as the Admiral’s Baths is a Mudejar building located next to the Palacio del Almirante de Aragón, in the historical centre of Valencia. The baths were founded in 1313, when the knight and Jurist Pere de Vila-rasa, a member of the Royal council, was given a licence by king James II of Aragon to build a bath house in this land. Despite having been built during the Christian time, they are similar to the Arab steam baths or hammams that are typical of Islamic architecture: a hall or rest room, three vaulted rooms (cold room, warm room and hot room) which correspond to the hot, humid part of the bath house, lavatories, a boiler room and a store room.

The “hammam” was a public building, of a civil character, inherited in functional and constructive concept from the Roman baths, although the Muslim world reduced its dimensions and standardized the section of the plant.
These baths are a unique example of Mudejar art in the Valencian Community and are not one of the few baths in Spain, if not the only one, in the Arab or Mudejar style that have been active uninterruptedly since their foundation until the 20th century.
In 1944 they were declared as Spanish cultural heritage site. In 1959, the baths were closed after a remarkable six centuries.

Between 1961 and 1963, a restoration project was carried out to remove the 19th century renovation work, with the exception of the entrance door. In 1963 a, gymnasium was set up in the building.
In 1985, the Generalitat Valenciana (the Valencian Regional government) bought the building and started a recovery and restoration project was undertaken in 2005, the year in which the baths were opened as a museum.