Silk in Valencia

A few years ago I traveled overland from Xi'an in China to Istanbul along the Silk Road (see a whole lot of previous posts). So I was fascinated to learn that Valencia was a big player in the silk trade. It seems that the Moorish traders brought mulberry trees and silkworms to Valencia and found the the local climate fit the needs of the trees and silkworms. The rest, as they say, is history.
The castle-like building in the 1st picture is La Lonja, the silk market here. It was built to impress merchants with the wealth and power of Valencia, and I think you will see that they succeeded. In fact, Valencia dominated that trade in the western Mediterranean.
The 2nd and 3rd pictures are 2 gardens within La Lonja. Notice the oranges on the tree. Oranges, like mulberry and rice are not native here. They were all introduced by the Moors.
The 4th picture is the stunning trading hall with spiral columns, decorative ceiling and the rest. This is the most impressive trading hall I've seen. The 5th picture is in the upper story. This is the entry to their smaller trading area and where disputes were settled seen in the 6th picture. Note the coat of arms above the door.
The rest of the pictures are in the silk museum. They display many artifacts from the centuries of the silk trade here plus some modern silk work. The last picture catches 2 looms, one from the 14th century and one from the 18th century. The one to the left and farther back is the old one.Читать далее