CASA DE L’ENSENYANÇA

La Casa de l’Ensenyança.
The building has been remodelled to house the new rooms of the Museum of Fine Arts. It has one of the most important public collections of the Valencian Community, with works by Ribera, Goya, Vicent López, Santiago Rusiñol, Benlliure and Antoni Miró, among many others. It also exhibits outstanding pieces of sculpture and stonework. Of particular note is the portrait of Felipe V, upside down with its head down in revenge for having ordered the burning of Xàtiva in 1707. In addition to its permanent collection, this museum, which was created with a vocation for dynamism, regularly exhibits temporary exhibitions.

A UNIQUE BUILDING
The splendid building, built in the mid-18th century, houses this museum destined to become one of the benchmarks of Valencian art. It has a Baroque façade and the heraldic coat of arms of the founder of the educational institution -Archbishop Mayoral- and remained active until the end of the last century.
Its refurbishment and adaptation as a museum has been one of the most emblematic cultural projects of the city in recent years.
THE COLLECTIONS
The restoration of the Casa de l’Ensenyança has allowed the exhibition, in excellent conditions, of the magnificent municipal pictorial collection. It ranges from 16th century Gothic to contemporary works of art. The presence of the Baroque with paintings by Josep de Ribera, and the collection of contemporary works on loan from the Prado Museum stand out, with attention to Ribera’s special relationship with the city of Xàtiva. Here the canvases of great masters such as Luca Giordano, Carducho, Palomino, Juan Bautista Mazo, as well as those of the workshop or school of Teniers, Breughel, Rembrandt, Murillo and Velázquez shine with their own merit. It is necessary to highlight the portraits of the kings that preside under the canopy of the Casa de la Ciudad, among which the portrait Ferrán VII by Vicent López, also author of and exceptional Santa Cena (Holy Supper), stands out. It exhibits works by Benlliure, Rusiñol, Pérez Contel and other contemporary artists, such as Vento, Hernández Quero and the Valencian artists Manuel Boix, Artur Heras, Enric Solbes, Antoni Miró and Adrià Pina. It also has a magnificent collection of engravings, including the complete series of Caprichos y Disparates by Goya.

SYMBOL OF THE CITY
The painting of Felipe V is hung downwards as a punishment for the three times he ordered to burn and destroy the city.
The portrait of Felipe V, the work of the local painter Josep Amorós, has become a symbol of the city and occupies a prominent place in the museum. The first memeber of the Bourbon dinasty in Spain ordered, once defeated by force of arms in 1707, that Xàtiva be burned and razed to the ground and its inhabitants exiled. As an act of symbolic revenge, and of remebrance, in the mid-20th century the municipal curator of the museum decided to place the painting facing downwards.