Editorial credit: Wikimedia Commons
Whether you watched the mascletás there during the Fallas or stumbled upon it on your way to the Central Market: anyone who’s been to Valencia has been to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. It’s unavoidable. But what you probably didn’t know is that a (huge) 13th-century convent once stood on this very spot, which expanded thanks to donations from Valencian nobles who wanted to be buried there.
A large tract of land that is now home to such iconic city buildings as the Rialto Theater, the Communications Palace, and the Ateneo Mercantil, where on October 31… a candlelit concert dedicated to Halloween will be held.
Candlelight: Halloween Classics
The Convent of San Francisco: The History Beneath the Plaza del Ayuntamiento
Editorial credits: Tomàs Vicent Tosca i Mascó and Demiannnn / Wikimedia Commons
Neither the Tiger on Periodista Azzati Street nor the pharmacy on the corner existed when King James I of Aragon founded the Convent of San Francisco on the site of today’s Plaza del Ayuntamiento. That was in the year 1239. Little by little, as donations poured in from the (many) Valencian nobles who wished to be buried there, the boundaries of the property began to expand. After several renovations in the years that followed, the convent’s heyday came between the 14th and 17th centuries.
However, starting in 1823, the friars began sharing the space with troops after part of the convent was converted into barracks. The mid-19th-century secularization decrees (under which the government ordered the closure of convents with fewer than 12 professed monks) led to the definitive dissolution of the San Francisco Convent. The building was finally demolished in 1891, and it was on that site that construction began on the current City Hall Plaza.
The result? One of the most significant urban transformations in downtown Valencia.
Practical information about the Halloween concert in Valencia
📅 When: Saturday, October 31, 2026
🕒 Time: 9:00 p.m.
📍 Where: Ateneo Mercantil de Valencia (Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 18)
🎟️ Tickets: starting at €17.50