ROYAL COLLEGE OF THE PIARIST SCHOOLS OF VALENCIA

The church of the Royal College of the Piarist Schools of Valencia, declared a National Historic Artistic Monument, was built in 1771. It is composed of two main elements: its facade, masterpiece of overlapping planes that combines the Ionic and Corinthian orders, decorated with sculptures of the master Ignacio Vergara, and its circular church, whose precise Corinthian order rises to the magnificent apostles of Vergara who guard one of the largest domes in Europe, with 24 meters in diameter, which raises the building to 48 meters in height.

Known for supporting the largest dome in Valencia, the church of the Royal College of the Pious Schools is a reference of Valencian neoclassicism, marked by the academic guidelines of the Royal Academy of San Carlos and involving in its realization renowned personalities of the religious sphere , artistic and social of Valencia of the eighteenth century. The determination of the Mayoral Archbishop for public education promulgated by San José de Calasanz in Rome, as well as the greatness of the Vergara Brothers, along with prestigious architects such as José Puchol and Antonio Gilabert among others, means the consecration of a singular temple of circular plant. The classic influences of ancient Rome are also evident in its pilasters with capitals of overlapping styles, the triangular or semicircular frontispieces or the lantern finish of its dome, reminiscent of buildings as unique as the Pantheon of Agrippa or the Temple of Minerva.