The Open House Valencia -OHV- festival is a privileged rendezvous between the city and its most prized architecture. A multitude of buildings open their doors, displaying their functional, typological and formal uniqueness. The capital of the Turia thus joins other great metropolises such as New York, Milan, Athens, Lisbon,... inviting all members of the international community to explore the collective space, entering the architectural universe to enjoy the richness of its history and cultural diversity.

Open House Valencia is a multidisciplinary project that is open to everyone and was created with the aim of helping people to live and enjoy the architecture, landscape and urban art of the city by promoting new ways of contemplating and inhabiting it.

It is a non-profit and cross-cutting initiative based on social cohesion and the participation of the greatest number of urban actors: students, young people, professionals, technicians, artists, musicians, shopkeepers,...

For a weekend, infrastructures, squares, gardens and buildings can be visited and explained by the architects and designers who conceived, transformed, restored and made them possible.

La Beneficencia joins this year's event and opens its doors with special visits:

21 October 2023: 10 am. Guided visit by Joan Seguí (director of L'ETNO), María Jesús de Pedro (director of the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia) and Rafael Rivera (architect responsible for the restoration of La Beneficencia Cultural Centre). Free access until full capacity is reached.

21 and 22 October 2023: The rest of the day's visits will be open to the general public, with free access until full capacity is reached.

Once again this year, the Espanta la por campaign is here to release our fantastic imagination with activities of all kinds, both for adults and for children. And as every year for the last eight years, we are not alone, we are accompanied by many local ethnological museums, libraries and Valencian schools!

This year we have something new: as well as being in the real world, we have also entered the world of podcasts. Espanta la por 2023 is the birth of The names of fear, the first podcast of L'ETNO in which we will reflect on the fears of adults, the fears of Valencian people, and we will be accompanied by Valencian podcasters on this four-programme journey, in Valencian, to talk about monsters, legends, literature, death... You are invited to the recording of some of the programmes, but please let us know that you are coming, lest you don't leave room for monsters and imagination!

Of course, we will also enjoy many activities in the "real world", which we are sure you will like very much. Come and have a great time in our space to scare the fear away!

Check out the programme!

The Graves of Francoism (Las fosas del Franquismo) is a project with a public service vocation that aims to promote democratic memory. Society has a moral obligation to undo the base of oblivion in order to never again repeat the most tragic episodes of our history. The project is multidisciplinary in nature, as it is approached from the perspective of archaeology, anthropology and historical memory.

The Diputación de València, with the Historical Memory Delegation, and the Department of Culture, with the Museums of Prehistory and L'ETNO, have produced two exhibitions, a publication and a programme of cultural activities, which aim to contribute to the truth, justice and reparation of the memory of the people shot in the Paterna Cemetery between 1939 and 1956. Special attention has been devoted to the victims and their families.

The exhibitions are: Archaeology of Memory. The Graves of Paterna (Arqueología de la Memoria. Las fosas de Paterna), organised by the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia, and 2238 Paterna. A place of perpetration and memory  (2238 Paterna. Lugar de perpetración y memoria), organised by L'ETNO, Museu Valencià d'Etnologia, which will help to strengthen critical thinking in the face of events that should never be repeated.

2238 Paterna. A place of perpetration and memory.

Approaching the contemporary exhumations of the graves of victims of Franco's regime from the perspective of social anthropology allows us to look beyond these graves. From this discipline, the analytical focus is placed on understanding in depth and in all its dimensions the dynamic social world that surrounds them and endows them with meaning, whether in institutional, associative or family environments.

From this point of view, exhuming involves much more than digging up bones. The view widens and allows us to introduce new agents, to move through time and space and to put ourselves in the place of those people who were murdered and humiliated by Franco's repression, as well as to walk with them along the paths of memory and oblivion.

All these issues are present in one way or another in the exhibition 2238. Paterna, Place of Perpetration and Memory, organised by L'ETNO. Through different spaces and periods, it takes us from the past to the present, from the houses and locked chests of drawers to the cemetery of Paterna and inside the graves, from the experiences of several generations to the suffering of men and women repressed for their way of thinking and living, for defending the legitimate government or for their political militancy.

In the first room (Room 2) we enter a mass grave. From inside, we are led to reflect on its existence and the reasons for the current demands for exhumations, thanks, above all, to the transmission of memory by women.

The first courtyard recreates the Paterna cemetery, showing us the spaces, the small and humble family tributes, the different political demands that have taken place there over time up to the present day.

In the second courtyard we can stop to assimilate all that we have been shown, digest the violence and fear of so many families and share the seeds of hope that encapsulate their demands.

This project is the result of the joint effort and work of many people: the curator, the person responsible for the design, the institution and its workers (restoration, conservation, communication, didactics, administration and management...). And, of course, it is the fruit of the generosity of the families who have selflessly allowed their private and intimate memory to become public heritage and collective memory.

Consult press release in the right-hand column.

We invite you to a bike ride through the Turia Garden where we will tell forgotten stories, collective experiences, identify archaeological remains of ancient uses and reflect on the process of construction of this emblematic space of the city that has not always been as we see it today. We want to renew the way we look at a space that we take for granted and activate new feelings of esteem, understanding, knowledge and responsibility towards the city we inhabit.

The route will sail up the river by bicycle with several explanatory stops, up to the Naturia building for a guided visit to the exhibition BEFORE THE GARDEN, where we will see photographic and archival documentation of everything we experienced on the bike ride.

Duration: 2 h. 30 min.
Departure point: Caixa Forum (Agora Building)
Starting time: 9:30 a.m.
Small groups of a maximum of 10-12 people.
Please register by e-mail: letno@dival.es
Phone number: 963 883 633
Bring your own bicycle. 
Low difficulty

Guides: 

• Pau Monteagudo (Photographic archive technician of L'ETNO)
• Iván Portugués (geographer, lecturer at the UV)
• Aitana Guia (Historian, lecturer at the University of Fullerton, California - USA and author of La rebel·lió dels vianants: El Jardí del riu Túria al centre d'una nova València)

Languages: Valencian, Spanish, English and Italian.

Calendar: You only have to send us an email to letno@dival.es, choose the date and communicate the number of people who will come.

• Saturday 17th June
• Sunday 18th June
• Saturday 24th June
• Sunday 25th June
• Saturday 1st July
• Sunday 2nd July
• Saturday 8th July
• Sunday 9th July

The Graves of Francoism (Las fosas del Franquismo) is a project with a public service vocation that aims to promote democratic memory. Society has a moral obligation to undo the base of oblivion in order to never again repeat the most tragic episodes of our history. The project is multidisciplinary in nature, as it is approached from the perspective of archaeology, anthropology and historical memory.

The Diputación de València, with the Historical Memory Delegation, and the Department of Culture, with the Museums of Prehistory and L'ETNO, have produced two exhibitions, a publication and a programme of cultural activities, which aim to contribute to the truth, justice and reparation of the memory of the people shot in the Paterna Cemetery between 1939 and 1956. Special attention has been devoted to the victims and their families.

The exhibitions are: Archaeology of Memory. The Graves of Paterna (Arqueología de la Memoria. Las fosas de Paterna), organised by the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia, and 2238 Paterna. A place of perpetration and memory  (2238 Paterna. Lugar de perpetración y memoria), organised by L'ETNO, Museu Valencià d'Etnologia, which will help to strengthen critical thinking in the face of events that should never be repeated.

2238 Paterna. A place of perpetration and memory.

Approaching the contemporary exhumations of the graves of victims of Franco's regime from the perspective of social anthropology allows us to look beyond these graves. From this discipline, the analytical focus is placed on understanding in depth and in all its dimensions the dynamic social world that surrounds them and endows them with meaning, whether in institutional, associative or family environments.

From this point of view, exhuming involves much more than digging up bones. The view widens and allows us to introduce new agents, to move through time and space and to put ourselves in the place of those people who were murdered and humiliated by Franco's repression, as well as to walk with them along the paths of memory and oblivion.

All these issues are present in one way or another in the exhibition 2238. Paterna, Place of Perpetration and Memory, organised by L'ETNO. Through different spaces and periods, it takes us from the past to the present, from the houses and locked chests of drawers to the cemetery of Paterna and inside the graves, from the experiences of several generations to the suffering of men and women repressed for their way of thinking and living, for defending the legitimate government or for their political militancy.

In the first room (Room 2) we enter a mass grave. From inside, we are led to reflect on its existence and the reasons for the current demands for exhumations, thanks, above all, to the transmission of memory by women.

The first courtyard recreates the Paterna cemetery, showing us the spaces, the small and humble family tributes, the different political demands that have taken place there over time up to the present day.

In the second courtyard we can stop to assimilate all that we have been shown, digest the violence and fear of so many families and share the seeds of hope that encapsulate their demands.

This project is the result of the joint effort and work of many people: the curator, the person responsible for the design, the institution and its workers (restoration, conservation, communication, didactics, administration and management...). And, of course, it is the fruit of the generosity of the families who have selflessly allowed their private and intimate memory to become public heritage and collective memory.
Consult the brochure of complementary activities in the right-hand column.

➔10.00 h
Plantà in Corona street of the falla d'estiu El triunfo del Foot-ball (The Triumph of Football) presented in the exhibition De granotes, gats i palmeres. The Origins of the Levante U.D. de L'ETNO. Reproduction of the falla by Regino Mas and Rafael Albert that was set up on the 18th and 19th March 1923 in Mossen Sorell square, just a few metres from the current location of L'ETNO.

➔22.00h
Dinner at the bar/cafeteria service in the patio of L'ETNO (each person brings their own dinner). Reservation required at letno@dival.es

➔21.00 h
DJ World Music session by Paco Valiente in the courtyard of L'ETNO.

➔23.00h
Cremà de la falla (burning of the falla) in Corona street.

➔23.30h
Verbena (festivity) with Ele DJ in Corona Street.

Every Sunday of the months of the exhibition (July 2023 - April 2024) our guides will conduct free guided tours for all audiences to the temporary exhibition 2238 Paterna. Place of perpetration and memory, as part of the activities that will be carried out as part of the programme Las Fosas del Franquismo. Archaeology, Anthropology and Memory.

This programme, carried out jointly with the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia and the Delegation of Historical Memory of the Provincial Council of Valencia, includes another temporary exhibition organised by the Museum of Prehistory and which can also be visited at the La Beneficencia Museum Centre. It is called Archaeology of Memory. The graves of Paterna. The timetable can be chosen, i.e. you can see the Prehistory exhibition first (for example at 11 a.m.) and then the Ethnology exhibition (at 12:30 p.m.) or the other way round. They do not have a specific order, you can visit them as you see fit. 

Those who wish to visit the aforementioned exhibition should inform the information point at the Centro Museístico La Beneficencia, where groups of visitors will be formed.

The Turia Gardens are a space of indisputable urban, social and heritage value that has evolved with the city since its very foundation. In spite of everything, the awareness that allows us to perceive it in this way is still, to a large extent, yet to be built. The narratives, often focused on the catastrophic floods, have overlooked other types of economic, social and emotional relationships between the city and its river.

The conversion of the river into a garden from 1982 onwards expanded the idea that, before the transformation of the old river into a large green belt, it was a wasteland that was alien to the city. A place where nothing happened.

The result of photographic and documentary archive research, this exhibition tells the story of a reality that was more diverse and complex. The exhibition is divided into three sections: Living on the river, which focuses on the riverbed as a living space; Living from the river, which points out the different uses of resources often related to water; Living the river, which reveals the development of its social and popular use until it became a garden thanks to citizen mobilisation.

Looking at the past shows us how our everyday environment is constantly changing, the result of the evolution of the relationships between people and the environment they inhabit. Observing these processes helps to strengthen the emotional roots that link us to the spaces we inhabit, enjoy and are used to perceiving as natural and familiar.

València was not born with its back to the sea, as is often said, but deliberately facing its river.

The Turia Gardens are a space of indisputable urban, social and heritage value that has evolved with the city since its very foundation. In spite of everything, the awareness that allows us to perceive it in this way is still, to a large extent, yet to be built. The narratives, often focused on the catastrophic floods, have overlooked other types of economic, social and emotional relationships between the city and its river.

The conversion of the river into a garden from 1982 onwards expanded the idea that, before the transformation of the old river into a large green belt, it was a wasteland that was alien to the city. A place where nothing happened.

The result of photographic and documentary archive research, this exhibition tells the story of a reality that was more diverse and complex. The exhibition is divided into three sections: Living on the river, which focuses on the riverbed as a living space; Living from the river, which points out the different uses of resources often related to water; Living the river, which reveals the development of its social and popular use until it became a garden thanks to citizen mobilisation.

Looking at the past shows us how our everyday environment is constantly changing, the result of the evolution of the relationships between people and the environment they inhabit. Observing these processes helps to strengthen the emotional roots that link us to the spaces we inhabit, enjoy and are used to perceiving as natural and familiar.

València was not born with its back to the sea, as is often said, but deliberately facing its river.

​

In a human library, books are the people who transmit life stories and diverse tales that are never repeated. At L'ETNO Library we exchange paper books for human books that speak in the first person. In a human library you come to listen, to feel and to learn in a supportive and intercultural space because the books will be migrants from different countries who are willing to share their experiences with those who want to listen to them. All the human books are part of the València Acoge collective. 

L'ETNO Library is looking for readers interested in listening and living this experience. The recommended age is for people over 12 years old because the books are not fiction but contain very real stories and, as we all know, reality always surpasses fiction. However, if you have children over 12 at home, don't hesitate to take them with you because it is an enriching experience to activate and open the heart and mind. 
 
The books will change in each session, so you can attend both sessions without repeating readings. And a recommendation: plan your Saturday well and come without rushing, without thinking about shopping before lunch, without thinking about anything other than enjoying a good read.