The Old City gate
The Portal de la Valldigna is a gate from the 1400s that separted the Christian city from the Moorish quarter. It is located in El Carmen. It is a gate without a door, and takes its name from the Monastery of Santa María de la Valldigna.
Opened on the 11th century Arab wall itself, in the year of 1400s it was the access to the Mooris quarter. It is a semicircular arch in the Valencian Gothic style, made of ashlar (limestone blocks). It was restored in 1965.
On the portal there is a reproduction of the original altarpiece that existed there, dedicated to the Virgen and placed in 1589. The altarpiece represents Jaime II of Aragon in he act of founding the Monastery of La Valldigna. In its upper part is the representation of the Virgen with the shields of the city of Valencia and the monastery of La Valldigna.
The first printing press of the Kingdom of Valencia and the Iberian Peninsula was installed next ot the portal, by the master printer Lambert Palmart, in which in 1474 the first book of the Peninsula was printed, written in Valencian.
