Portal de Valldigna, Valencia

The Portal de la Valldigna or Puerta de la Valldigna is a 1400s gateway that separated the Christian city from the Moorish quarter of Valencia, Spain. It is located in the district of Carmen, in the district of Ciutat Vella. It is a gateway without a door, named after the Monastery of Santa Maria de la Valldigna. The abbot's house was located in front of the portal.

Opened over the 11th century Arab wall itself, in the year 1400 it was the gateway to the Moorish quarter. It is a semicircular arch in Valencian Gothic style, made of ashlar, with a slight advance in the imposts. It was restored in 1965.

In the doorway there is a reproduction of the original altarpiece that existed there, dedicated to the Virgin and which was placed in 1589. The altarpiece represents King James II of Aragon in the act of founding the monastery of Valldigna, which he granted to the abbot of the Monastery of Santes Creus, with an inscription accompanying the image that reads: "Aquesta vall per a la vostra causa".

In its upper part is the representation of the Virgin with the coats of arms of the city of Valencia and the monastery of Valldigna. It is an altarpiece from the 1960s, next to which there is an inscription that reads Nostra Dona de la Bona Son, Pregueu per nós, Portal de Valldigna.

The first printing press of the Kingdom of Valencia and of the Iberian Peninsula was installed next to the portal, by the master printer Lambert Palmart, where in 1474 the first book of the Peninsula was printed, written in Valencian: Les obres o trobes davall scrites les quals tracten de lahors de la sacratíssima Verge Maria. A commemorative plaque reminds us of this.

Also, along with the portal took place the event lived by Friar Joan Gilabert Jofré, interposing himself to the harassment and stoning of a madman, after which and changing his Lenten sermon, led to that on April 9, 1409 the foundations of the first asylum in the world that was called Hospital dels Folls i dels Ignocents were laid.

In 1944 the then director of Fine Arts, Mr. Manuel González Martí, had the initiative to declare the Portal de la Valldigna a historic-artistic monument, to prevent its disappearance, as the owners wanted to demolish the house to build a new one.