Lonja del Pescado, Art gallery in coastal Alicante, Spain.
Lonja del Pescado is an art gallery building located near Alicante's harbor with Valencian Art Nouveau features from the early 20th century. Inside, tall windows, colorful ceramic tiles, and iron columns create bright exhibition spaces where contemporary artwork is displayed.
The Lonja del Pescado was built between 1917 and 1921 to a design by engineer Próspero Lafarga, commissioned by the port works board to revive Alicante's port trade at the end of World War I. The Catalan source gives its inauguration as 1922. After passing to the city council it was rehabilitated, and since 1992 it has served as an exhibition hall, hosting art shows and events such as the Azorín Prize ceremony.
The name refers to its origins as a fish market, and visitors can still see the tall windows and columns that echo this trading past and the harbor's importance. These features tell the story of Alicante's maritime identity and how the city values its connection to the sea.
The building is within walking distance of the harbor and easy to reach on foot, with clear signs from the city center. Large windows provide natural light throughout, making it comfortable to visit at any time of day.
The three exhibition rooms are named after places in Alicante: Tabarca is the smallest, Luceros the middle one and Explanada the largest. The building keeps a visible metal frame with a partly translucent roof, and its horseshoe arches and broken-profile merlons recall North African architecture rather than the Valencian Art Nouveau often attributed to it.
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