Valencia (/vəˈlɛnsiə/ və-LEN-see-ə or /vəˈlɛnʃ(i)ə/ və-LEN-sh(ee-)ə, Spanish: [baˈlenθja] ⓘ), officially València (Valencian: [vaˈlensia]), is the capital of the province and autonomous community of the same name in Spain.

[11] Due to its long history, Valencia has numerous celebrations and traditions, such as the Falles (or Fallas), which was declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest of Spain in 1965[12] and an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in November 2016.

[17] In 2023, the Commission of Culture of the municipal corporation agreed in principle on a dual official denomination Valencia / Valéncia, with the far right managing to impose[editorializing] a non-standard acute accent in the e of the Valencian-language name.

[23] From then on, the name of Valencia (Arabised as Balansiya) appears more related to the wider area than to the city, which is primarily cited as Madînat al-Turâb ('city of earth' or 'sand') and presumably had diminished importance throughout the period.

As the Almoravid empire crumbled in the mid 12th-century, ibn Mardanīsh took control of eastern al-Andalus, creating a Murcia-centered independent emirate to which Valencia belonged, resisting the Almohads until 1172.

[29] In 1238,[33] King James I of Aragon, with an army composed of Aragonese, Catalans, Navarrese, and crusaders from the Order of Calatrava, laid siege to Valencia and on 28 September obtained a surrender.

[41] Valencia also became one of the major ports of embarkation for Jews who left after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Isaac ben Yehudah Abrabanel and his family among them, by special permission granted to him by King Ferdinand.

[42] Muslim vassals were forced to convert in 1526 at the behest of Charles V.[42] Urban and rural delinquency—linked to phenomena such as vagrancy, gambling, larceny, pimping and false begging—as well as the nobiliary banditry consisting of the revenges and rivalries between the aristocratic families flourished in Valencia during the 16th century.

[45] By the late 1520s, the intensification of Barbary corsair activity along with domestic conflicts and the emergence of the Atlantic Ocean in detriment of the Mediterranean in global trade networks put an end to the economic splendor of the city.

The 18th century was the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, and its humanistic ideals influenced men such as Gregory Maians and Pérez Bayer in Valencia, who maintained correspondence with the leading French and German thinkers of the time.

[citation needed] The mutineers seized the Citadel, the Supreme Junta government took over, and on 26–28 June, Napoleon's Marshal Moncey attacked the city with a column of 9,000 French imperial troops in the First Battle of Valencia.

After Valencian capitulation, the French instituted reforms in Valencia, which became the capital of Spain when the Bonapartist pretender to the throne, José I (Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's elder brother), moved the Court there in the middle of 1812.

This economic boom corresponded with a revival of local traditions and of the Valencian language, which had been ruthlessly suppressed from the time of Philip V. Work to demolish the walls of the old city started on 20 February 1865.

[50] Following the introduction of universal manhood suffrage in the late 19th century, the political landscape in Valencia—until then consisting of the bipartisanship characteristic of the early Restoration period—experienced a change, leading to a growth of republican forces, gathered around the emerging figure of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez.

The best expression of this dynamic was in regional exhibitions, including that of 1909 held next to the pedestrian avenue L'Albereda (Paseo de la Alameda), which depicted the progress of agriculture and industry.

[56] The economy began to recover in the early 1960s, and the city experienced explosive population growth through immigration spurred by jobs created with the implementation of major urban projects and infrastructure improvements.

[59] The results of the Valencia municipal elections from 1991 to 2011 delivered a 24-year uninterrupted rule (1991–2015) by the People's Party (PP) and Mayor Rita Barberá, with support from the Valencian Union.

[71] The maximum of precipitation occurs in autumn, coinciding with the time of the year when cold drop (gota fría) episodes of heavy rainfall—associated to cut-off low pressure systems at high altitude—[72] are common along the Western mediterranean coast.

[93] Valencia enjoyed strong economic growth before the Great Recession of 2008, much of it spurred by tourism and construction,[citation needed] with concurrent development and expansion of telecommunications and transport.

Public transport is provided by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV), which operates the Metrovalencia (rapid transit, tram) and other rail and bus services.

A second station, the Estació de València-Joaquín Sorolla, has been built on land adjacent to this terminus to accommodate high speed AVE trains to and from Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Alicante.

In its long history, Valencia has acquired many local traditions and festivals, among them the Falles, which was declared a Celebration of International Tourist Interest (Festes d'Interés Turístic Internacional) on 25 January 1965 and an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO on 30 November 2016, and the Water Tribunal of Valencia (Tribunal de les Aigües de València), which was declared an intangible cultural heritage in 2009.

[122] Their intricate assemblages, on top of pedestals for better visibility, depict famous personalities and topical subjects of the past year, presenting humorous and often satirical commentary on them.

The Cathedral and its bell tower El Miguelete, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, are primarily of Valencian Gothic style but contains elements of Baroque and Romanesque architecture.

Bishop Vidal de Blanes built the chapter hall, and James I added the tower, called El Miguelete in Castilian Spanish or Torre del Micalet in the Valencian language because it was blessed on St. Michael's day in 1418.

Archbishop Luis Alfonso de los Cameros began the building of the main chapel in 1674; the walls were decorated with marbles and bronzes in the Baroque style of that period.

[130] In 1409, a hospital was founded and placed under the patronage of Santa Maria dels Innocents; to this was attached a confraternity devoted to recovering the bodies of the unfriended dead in the city and within a radius of 5 km (3.1 mi) around it.

At the end of the 15th century this confraternity separated from the hospital, and continued its work under the name of "Cofradia para el ámparo de los desamparados".

King Philip IV of Spain and the Duke of Arcos suggested the building of the new chapel, and in 1647 the Viceroy, Conde de Oropesa, who had been preserved from the bubonic plague, insisted on carrying out their project.

El Temple (the Temple), the ancient church of the Knights Templar, which passed into the hands of the Order of Montesa and was rebuilt in the reigns of Ferdinand VI and Charles III; the former convent of the Dominicans, at one time the headquarters of the Capitan General, the cloister of which has a Gothic wing and chapter room, large columns imitating palm trees; the Colegio del Corpus Christi, which is devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, and in which perpetual adoration is carried on; the Jesuit college, which was destroyed in 1868 by the revolutionary Committee of the Popular Front, but later rebuilt; and the Colegio de San Juan (also of the Society), the former college of the nobles, now a provincial institute for secondary instruction.