A CIUTAT DE L’ARTISTA FALLER (THE CITY OF FALLAS ARTISTS)
We have to go back to 1947, after the founding of the Guild of Fallas Artists of València (1942-45), to find the first reference to the suitability of promoting an craft workshop area for artists dedicated exclusively to the construction of fallas and carriages, bringing to an end former times when workmen resided in outlying districts and made pilgrimages to ground-floor workshops, warehouses and old industrial buildings in the city.
The original initiative came from the then Senior Master of the Guild, Regino Mas, and his board, but the project was not definitely set in gear until 1953, being successively redefined up to 1962 (with locations such as the Sant Isidre neighbourhood being proposed), when we can finally see a definitive complex that included workshops, a training school and a Fallas art museum.
In 1964, the developer Ciudad del Artista Fallero, S.A. (CIARFASA) was founded as a public limited company, acquiring orchard lands in the neighbourhood of Benicalap. On 17 March 1967 the first stone of this craftsmen’s estate was laid, pioneering all “theme cities” built in Spain. In a matter of two years, fifty percent of the workshops were already finished and occupied. In 1968 the City of Fallas Artists was geared up to full capacity.
The Ciutat de l’Artista Faller later expanded into a residential district (Ciutat Fallera) with all necessary amenities: school, gardens, shops, church, public transport, in addition to new workshops and the headquarters of both the Fallas Artists Museum and the Guild of Fallas Artists.
Today, the Ciutat de l’Artista Faller has its own identity, not only within the district of Benicalap, but also in the whole of the city of Valencia, being recognised as one of its most unique spaces, described as an authentically creative neighbourhood.
