Ruzafa

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Ruzafa ( Russafa in Valencian and officially) is a quarter of the city of Valencia that belongs/belonging to the Eixample district and it was an independent town until 1877. In 2009 it had a population of 25.134 inhabitants, according to Valencia City Council.

Toponymy

The place name Ruzafa derives from the Valencian word Russafa, and this Word derives in turn from the Arabic رصافة (Ruṣāfatu). In this language it means ‘garden’ and it might be a loanword from the Akkadian rasapa, 'a governor’s residence'.2 There is evidence of, at least, nine places named Ruṣāfa In the Arabic world, among which stand out those build in the surrouning áreas of Damascus, Basra y Baghdad.4

History

Ruzafa was first originated from a playground/schoolyard built by Abd Allah al-Balansi in the ninth century 2km away from the city of Valencia, following/copying his father Abderraman I, who had built one in the vicinity of Cordoba. This/such property must have disappeared very soon because Al-Balansis' sons didn't continue living in Valencia but the garden area close to their residence was maintained and it was used as a place of entertainment and a public park, as evidenced the poets al-Russafi, al-Saqundi, Ibn Amira or Ibn al-Abbar, inter alia.5 In the surroundings of such gardens, a farmstead was originated,which is the core for the subsequent town.5

Ruzafa's territory represented one of the main positions for the occupation of Valencia, as demostrated/showed by the fact that Álvar Fáñez camped there with his armed escort, when he joined the dethroned al-Qadir from Toledo to Valencia in 1085, or afterwards James I the Conqueror and his army in 1238, who besieged the city from this point. It is reported that in this place the king stayed during the whole campaign, and here the capitulation of the city took place between Zayyan ibn Mardanish y James I the Conqueror.5​

After the Christian conquest, the gardens were turned into arable land and the existing muslim buildings became farmsteads, occupied by the conquerors or their vassals. The subsequent expansion of the defensive wall of the city of Valencia, carried out in the 14th century, left this rural settlement outside, which kept maintaining its agricultural nature, even though it was turned into a suburb.5 Near the door of Ruzafa of the city of Valencia, the Plaza de toros de Valencia was built around 1860 and five years after its termination, the defensive walls were broken down

Heritage

Religious heritage

• Parochial Church of Saint Valerius and Saint Vincent Martyr : The former Church of Ruzafa burned in 1415, obliging the construction of the Parochial Church of Saint Valerius and Saint Vincent Martyr.Its conception and the direction of the first phase of its construction is attributed to Tomás Leonardo Esteve, while Juan Bautista Pérez and his son Juan Pérez Castilla were attributed the baroque decoration, today almost disappeared, of the interior. It follows a Latin cross plan of a unique nave and 6 side chapels between the buttress´. The construction of the bell tower, possibly the work of José Mingues, ended in 1740. Burned down in 1936, it was rebuilt in 1939 by Salvador and Manuel Pascual and José Luis Testor. It is also known as ‘Ruzafa’s Cathedral'.

• Convento Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (The Convent of Our Lady of the Angels): another religious monument with many historical nuances is the Convento Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, which is found in Calle General Prim. The 22nd of April of 1238, James I the Conqueror installed his encampment in Ruzafa, wanting to lay siege to the town of Valencia. The 14th of September he began a conversation with Zayán, Moorish king of Valencia, culminating with the surrender of Valencia the 29th of the same month, signing this surrender in the actual location of the convent. The king James I and his armed forces made their entry in Valencia the 9th of October. You can see on the principal façade a commemorative plaque of this historic event.

===Civil heritage

• Municipal Market of Ruzafa: Another very characteristic monument of this Valencian quarter is the Municipal Market of Ruzafa. It was planned by Julio Bellot Senet, according to the city Council of 1954 and the construction began by the end of May, 1957. It is found in the heart of Ruzafa, facing the baroque Church of Saint Valerius and Saint Vincent Martyr.

• Sculptural plaque of Sir Bernardo Landete Aragó : sculptural relief in profile with the facial characteristics of the Father of Spanish Stomology installed on the Square of Doctor Landete. This relief was defrayed mainly by the dentist union of Valencia.

Cultura

Ruzafa's Municipal Archive

Funds belonging to Ruzafa's city council as such, before annexing to Valencia, are being preserved in the Municipal Historical Archive.

Libraries

• Al-Russafí's Municipal Library - located in 5-7 Matías Perelló sreet, provided with computers with Internet connection and WIFI area. Its funds were transferred to Al-Russafí's New Municipal Library so now this space is used as a study room, reading room or exhibition hall.

• Al-Russafí's New Municipal Library - located in 2 Poeta Al-Russafí street, provided with computers with Internet connection, a wide bibliographic fund, audio-visual material (VHS, DVD) to lend and WIFI area

You can look up for both libraries funds in the Catalogue of the Municipal Public Libraries Network of Valencia.

Festivities

• San Blas: a popular festivity takes place the 3rd February in honour of San Blas. The image of the saint is exhibited during the whole day along the San Valero church's façade. There are long queues to venerate the saint and buy the traditional blessed cookies and to conclude the festivity, a procession which goes through every street of the quarter on the evening.
• San Jose: Ruzafa has the Fallas spirit very present, standing out the numerous delegations that comprise the "Agrupación de Fallas de Ruzafa". During Fallas' festivities, Ruzafa transforms itself: many streets are closed to traffic and it turns into a pedestrian area for a few days. Also youy can enjoy one of the most "Fallero places" / traditional places in Fallas in Valencia.

Notable people

• Julio Aparicio Pascual "Fabrilo: born in Ruzafa, Valencia / in the province of Valencia, the 1st November 1866. From a very young age, he standed out

• Maruf al Rusafi (Abu Abd Allah Muhammed ben Gualib): Abu Abd Muhammed ben Gualib was born at the beginning of the 12th Century in Ruzafa. He spent part of his life in Grenada, where he died in 1177. He sang with tenderness and nostalgy of his home land. He was a courteous poet and praised the Almohad caliph Abd al-Munin. He was one of the most appreciated poets of the Almohade dynasty and his name made part of the anthology of Arabian poetry. The two municipal libraries that we can find in the district of Ruzafa are named after him, Biblioteca Al-Russafí and Biblioteca Nova Al-Russafí.

• Benedict Pereira

• Diego Miró: First rector of Colegio San Pablo de Valencia de la Compañia de Jesús, created in 1544. His main work is Regulae communes or Constitutionum Societatis Jesu.

• Nicolás Pascual Roig: Augustinian monk, he was born in Ruzafa and died in 1787 in the convent he was in charge of in Alcoy. Musician and composer, one of his best is compositions is “Sonata de primer tono”.

• Matías Perelló Jáudenes: Philospher and literate, he was born in Ruzafa in 1734, and studied Philosophy and Law at the University of Valencia. He was the representative ad litem of Valencia, from whose position he intervened in the discrediting of the Grammar of Gregorio Mayans. The street that bears his name was designed in the first plan of the urban widening of the city of Valencia, in 1977, by Matías Perelló himself. He died in 1793.

• Francisco Javier Aguilar Solaz: school teacher, he died in 1863 saving his students during the collapse of the boy's branch of Ruzafa’s school. What used to be the street of the city´s cemetery now bears his name (Maestro Aguilar).

Ruzafa as an independent town

Map of Valencia and its surroundings around the year 1840. On this picture appears a large part of the municipality of Ruzafa, distinguishing the four main roads that would give the name to the Quatre Carreres Quatre Carreres district

. The town of Ruzafa (constituted by practically all of the current districts of Eixample, Quatre Carreres and Poblados del Sur) was grouped together as an municipality independent of Valencia City Council in 1811. The jurist Pascual Madoz would give the following description of Ruzafa in 1849:

A municipality with Council City in the province of Valencia (10minutes); Located in level ground to the south-east of the capital; It has 340 houses that form the main body of the district; Council City, prison, 2 public schools for 200 children, 2 Churches (San Valero and Vicente Mártir) [...] a Convent of nuns (Santa Clara) and 11 hermitages distributed along the district in each one of which there are schools for boys and girls that receive particular financial support. It is surrounded by the river Túria, sea and S. Sedaví and has many small villages such as Castellá, Torreta, Saler, Benimasot, Palmar, Pinedo y Lazareto [...]. The landis loose and of good quality, distributed in rice with vegetables that are fertilized with water of the river Túria, which drains into the sea. The roads are varied and poorly maintained that lead to Albufera and Ribera among others. PRODUCTION: rice, wheat, silk, hemp, fruits and vegetables; in Dehesa there is rabbit hunting. INDUSTRY agricultural and 6 windmills. POPULATION: 1,799 neighbours; 9,075 inhabitants [...] =Diccionario de Madoz

During the 19th century, the municipality suffered an important increase in population. According to Madoz, in 1849 there were 9,075 people living there (1,799 in the urban center, which corresponds to the today’s district). In 1860 it already had 13,013 inhabitants. In 1877 it had practically doubled its population, reaching 20,000 inhabitants.

Among the mayors who directed the municipal policy in the 1860s we find Salvador Alexandre y Tarrasa, D. Salvador Alexandre y Pascual and D. Vicente Quiles y Esteve (they were involved in a school tragedy, in which Maestro Aguilar and many students died). In the 1870s we find D. Andrés Chisbert (the last known municipal leader). After the destitution of the head of government, by order of the civil governor of the Province of Valencia, on 16 December 1877 an extraordinary session of Ruzafa’s City Council was organized, agreeing its annexation to Valencia. Since then, Ruzafa would have a mayor of district, named directly by the mayor of Valencia, losing its autonomy.

For a long time, this district was known as "la terra del ganxo" (land of hooks), since a great part of its population worked collecting logs coming to Valencia from los Serranos through the river Turia, for which they used hooks. Nowadays, this denomination is still patent in many of the names of shops and casales falleros (a building where falleros –people who participate in the most famous festival of Valencia, known as Fallas- meet throughout the year to have lunch, dinner or organise other activities) of the district.

Ruzafa nowadays

Nowadays Ruzafa suffers from hotel saturation

After suffering a period of abandonment, the district is going through a process of gentrification. With the improvement of the sidewalks, the hotel pressure expels small businesses, and the rise in housing prices pushed by the increase in tourist apartments makes rents more expensive. In this way, the district loses the social fabric and multiculturalism that characterised it.

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