Public Library of Valencia 2.42

The Public Library of Valencia is the main library of the city of Valencia. As an institution, it was founded in 1838. However, it was not until 1979 when it was relocated to its present location, the main building of the former Hospital for the Poor Innocents.HistoryOriginsThe origin of the institution comes from 1938, and has its beginnings in the Popular Library of Valencia, originally placed in Casa Vestuario, in Plaza de la Virgen. The library was relocated in 1979 in the intersection of the Old Hospital of Valencia, also known as Hospital de los Pobres Innocentes (Hospital for the Poor Innocents).The building as a hospitalThe building that currently houses the library was founded in 1409 by members of the Valencian bourgeoisie of the time, encouraged by a sermon of Fray Juan Gilabert Jofre in which he defended the need to create an institution to care of the mentally ill. That is how the Hospital de Folls de Santa María dels Pobres Innocents was founded. It was the first psychiatric hospital founded in Europe and in 1493 it was granted permission to expand the hospital. The construction works built a new nursing with the form of a Greek cross as one of the many attachments to the hospital, and in which now is located the library. It had two floors, the lower one designed to treat men, and the upper one, for women.Until the early 16th century, in Valencia coexisted several minor hospitals, usually associated with religious organizations that were dedicated to cure specific diseases. In 1511, a veredict of Ferdinand II of Aragon decreed the unification of all these hospitals into one. Some other attachments were added and the whole complex was renamed as General Hospital of Valencia. A fire in 1547 forced reconstruction of the building, and in 1664 a second transept was built. The Gothic portal which is currently in the entrance of the library is the only original piece that remains from before the fire.