HISTORY OF VALENCIA´S BULLRING (1st part)

Since 1085, there is evidence of  bullfighting, "Tauromaquia"  in Valencia where at that time, always without fixed space and based on 'cadafals' (wooden structures) the bullrings were set up and dismantled for each occasion. One of the places destined for the bullfighting events was the Market Square, in front of the Lonja of Valencia, mainly, although bullfights were also held in  "Plaza de Tetuán", the "Plaza del Llano de Zaidia", "Plaza del Real" and the Square of la Ronda.

All the bullrings were eventually and temporary for specific dates such as the festivities of Las Fallas, the July Fair, Christmas, moments in which the bullrings  were built following the structure of the buildings that made up the squares, and the carpenters built the platforms for the attending public, "burladeros", access doors, adapting to the peculiarities of each square.

These bullfights  celebrations were a booming business that passed from hand to hand, since these celebrations enjoyed great popularity, so the Hospital of Valencia became interested in the business.

In order to obtain the exploitation rights of  bullrings, the Hospital of Valencia requested S.M. Felipe III the rights alluded that the benefit obtained in bullfighting, could be used for the most needy, accepting the King the proposal, once the rights granted ended. But really, it was not until the year 1739 when King Felipe V, granted and for perpetuity, to the Hospital of Valencia, the rights and exploitation of the bullfights in these eventually bullrings.

This happened until the late eighteenth century, when the crowd was such that the removable bullrings were not enough and born the illusion of a flagship Bullring. According to Francesc Cabañés, "Tauromaquia museum of Valencia  director, there were also problems of public order, because the people were not safe in the "cadafals" and these were used to steal in houses around. In addition, the assembly system did not allow round bullrings and made the spectacle more dangerous.

The leader of that first was the mayor Urdaniz, who in 1798 commissioned the architects Claudio Bailler and Manuel Blasco to build a flagship Bullring, half masonry, half wood, outside the city walls, next to the Ruzafa gate. That square was 74 meters in diameter and an outer circumference of 334 meters.
But only lasted a few years. Its location next to the wall of the city made it a danger for the security of it and a facility for French invasion, so in 1808, in full Napoleonic offensive, the authorities decided to shoot it down. As the first workers abandoned the work immediately it was the people who threw it to the ground with ropes and draft animals.