Casa de la Cultura

The Casa de la Cultura occupies Alcoy's former Banco de España building, a neoclassical construction from 1927 designed by architects José de Astiz Bárcena, Luis Menéndez Pidal y Álvarez and the local Vicente Valls Gadea. The bank had opened its first office in the city in 1884, and kept operating from this building until the branch closed in 1982, when the institution donated it to Alcoy's town council. Alcoy built its wealth on textile and paper mills through the 19th century, becoming one of the Comunitat Valenciana's main industrial hubs, and a Banco de España branch of this scale reflects that history.

From bank to cultural centre

After a restoration that respected the building's historical and architectural value, the Casa de la Cultura became home to the municipal public library, the municipal archive and an exhibition hall. The former bank, designed to project solidity and permanence, keeps much of its original façade and layout, now given over to a use quite different from the one it served for more than half a century.

The building now works as one of the city's main cultural venues, with temporary exhibitions running alongside its role as a library and archive, and stands as a clear example of how Alcoy has repurposed its financial and industrial heritage for public use.

It sits in the centre of Alcoy, close to the Puente de Sant Jordi and the Museo Arqueológico Camilo Visedo Moltó, within the same area that holds much of the city's urban heritage.