The Casa de la Beneficència, an orphanage, was constructed in 1841 by the Diputació de València. The architect was José María Belda. A few years later, in 1881, a Neo-Byzantine style church was added. The building kept its function until the 1970's when it became redundant. It was not until the early 1980's that L'ETNO (then Museu d'Etnografia) and the Museu de Prehistòria de València moved there. In 1995, a complete restoration of the building,was carried out by the architects Rafael Rivera and Mateo Signes, converting the building into a modern cultural centre "Centre Cultural la Beneficència" or "La Bene" as it is popularly known.
The building consists of a ground floor and two floors arranged around five courtyards. The ground floor houses the shop, the cafeteria, the temporary exhibition hall and the educational workshops. The ground floor is completed with the old Neo-Byzantine church, which was converted into an events hall . The permanent exhibition of L'ETNO occupies the western part of the building. Two of the three sections of the new permanent exhibition: The City and The Irrigated Farmland and Marshlands], are located on the first floor. The second floor houses the third section of the museum's permanent exhibition, the Dryland and the Mountains]. This floor also houses the museum library, which occupies the central part of the building.
