Palau Ducal dels Borja

The Palau Ducal del Borja, birthplace of Saint Francisco de Borja and official residence of the Dukes of Gandia, is one of the most representative civil buildings of the Valencian historical heritage.

This stately construction, located next to the river, in the highest part of the old walled area of ​​the city, was started by Alfonso the Elder at the end of the 14th century. The palace acquired splendor when Cardinal Rodrigo Borja, future Pope Alexander VI, bought the duchy from Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1485.  

The eldest son of Rodrigo Borja, Pedro Luis, would initiate the title of the Dukes of Gandia, engaged in marriage with María Enríquez, cousin of Ferdinand II of Aragon. He wedding that was not celebrated due to the premature death of Pedro Luis, taking the witness of the nuptial commitment his brother Giovanni.

Both María Enríquez and the successive dukes and, above all, Saint Francisco de Borja, will leave an architectural record of their stay in the place.  

The building has two patios, the weapons patio and the cane patio, where the original entrance was. Currently, access to the palace is through the parade ground, in which a staircase supported by three large arches stands out.

Inside the building we must mention the cell-oratory of Saint Francisco de Borja, from the 15th century, the duchess's chamber (the birth room of Saint Francisco de Borja), the Salón de Coronas (audience room remodeled in times of the Santo, with a 16th-century tile plinth), the 16th-century Hall of the States of Sardinia, the Hall of the Eagles (one of the first Baroque interventions in the building carried out by the Borja family) and the Golden Gallery, from end of the 17th century, with ceramics from Manises from the 18th century, carried out to commemorate the canonization of Saint Francisco de Borja.