Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Rafelbunyol

What to see and do in Rafelbunyol (L'Horta Nord, Valencia): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities

When to go to Rafelbunyol: festival calendar

January: Festivities of San Antonio Abad de Rafelbunyol (mid- January)

How far each place is from the centre of Rafelbunyol

Towns near Rafelbunyol

What to see in La Pobla de Farnals 1.8 km · 1 place
What to see in El Puig 2.4 km · 5 places
What to see in Massamagrell 2.6 km · 7 places
What to see in Museros 3 km · 8 places
What to see in Puçol 3.9 km · 4 places
What to see in Emperador 4.3 km · 1 place
What to see in Massalfassar 4.9 km · 1 place
What to see in Albuixech 5.3 km · 1 place

Spain › Valencian Community › Valencia › L'Horta Nord › Rafelbunyol

What to see and do in Rafelbunyol

Rafelbunyol
Village
Rafelbunyol is a municipality in the comarca of L'Horta Nord, in the province of Valencia, forming part of the first ring of the Valencian metropolitan area and today numbering close to 10,000 inhabitants; its municipal area also includes the population centre of Els Forriols. Its name comes from the Arabic rahal, "farmhouse" or "house", with a second element of uncertain origin. The area retains Bronze Age remains dated to around 1800 BC at Els Germanells and traces of a Roman villa. Its church, of medieval origin from 1289 and rebuilt in 1750, has a Latin-cross plan and an octagonal dome decorated with blue Valencian tiles. The festivities of Saint Anthony the Abbot, with bonfires and the blessing of animals, are the most notable in the local calendar.
Festivities of Rafelbunyol
Activity
Rafelbunyol's festivities in honor of San Antonio Abad include bonfires, fireworks and the blessing of animals, centered around the church of the same name, of medieval origin, rebuilt in 1750.
Church of San Antonio Abad de Rafelbunyol
Monument
The parish church of San Antonio Abad de Rafelbunyol has its origin in a deed of 1289, by which the lord of the alquería (farmstead) ordered a church and altar to be built in honour of San Antonio Abad. In 1491 Pope Innocent VII made it an independent parish. The original church remained standing until 1750, when the first stone of the present-day temple was laid; the bell tower, by contrast, had been built almost fifty years earlier and is independent of the church. During the Civil War it was used as a cooperative store and its interior was destroyed almost completely, except for the rear wall of the high altar. The building, in Valencian Baroque style, has a central nave in the shape of a Latin cross, side chapels and a transept marked by an octagonal dome that lights the interior from above.
Canon's House of Rafelbunyol
Monument
17th-century house in Rafelbunyol, one of the municipality's historic buildings. It was built in the middle of that century commissioned by the canon magistral Pedro Jaime Gil Dolz y Benavent, dean of the University of Valencia, who served as procurator in the town. It is a Baroque building with an asymmetrical façade, with a balcony above the entrance doors and two doorways on the ground floor. It stands out for its size, with a façade length of more than 22 metres and a height of approximately 11.50 metres spread over three levels.
Agricultural Union of Rafelbunyol
Monument
The building of the Agricultural Syndicate of Rafelbunyol, in L'Horta Nord, corresponds to the organization founded in 1916 by the priest Juan Bautista Fenollosa Alcayna following the model of the Catholic syndicates, conceived to mediate between employers and farm workers under the protection of the Church. The headquarters was inaugurated in September 1929, coinciding with the patronal festivities, with an aesthetic of historicist eclecticism: a stepped pediment, a frieze bearing the motto Religión-Patria-Agricultura, and novecentista motifs such as the golden fleece, lemons and oranges, alluding to agricultural prosperity. In 1980 the architect José Sancho began works to convert it into a Casa de la Cultura, and a renovation by Remigio Oltra in the year 2000 updated the interior while preserving the original façade.
Archaeological site of Els Germanells
Nature
The Els Germanells site, in Rafelbunyol, belongs to the Valencian Bronze Age culture, with a chronology around 1800 BC. It occupies two mounds 43 metres long and 18 metres wide, about 4 kilometres from the village, in a strategic position with a broad visual command of the terrain. Discovered in 1953, it has yielded sickle teeth, thousands of black stone discoidal beads, pottery, two knives, a flat axe, four arrowheads, a square dissection awl, a brush and bone awls; part of the finds are kept at MUPREVA, the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia. Nearby, at Blanc de Columbro, a Roman rustic villa was documented, with fragments of dolia and a capital carved in stone from Sagunto, whose location is unknown today.
Festivities of San Antonio Abad de Rafelbunyol
Activity
Festivities of Rafelbunyol in honour of San Antonio Abad, celebrated on the weekend closest to 17 January. The programme includes the plantà of the bonfire, its burning or cremà with popular participation, the traditional coetà firework display, and a popular dinner for the villagers. The following day the blessing of the animals takes place, in an agricultural tradition honouring San Antonio Abad as the patron protector of livestock.