Just south of one of the city’s most celebrated museums, the IVAM, sits one of its least well-known — the Museum of Prehistory.
The museum is enormous, and we can highly recommend it for those who (a) have a lot of time to spare and (b) really love ancient coins and pottery. There is an abundance of it, spread across three stories and countless exhibits. From Rome to the Iberians, the region’s original inhabitants, people of every century apparently loved pottery.
Of course, there’s much more — statues, information about the lives of the citizens, maps, charts, recreations, audio-visual guides, etc. etc. Also a lot of bones. One gets the sense that anything ancient found in the Comunidad ends up here. It was overwhelming; we didn’t even see everything on offer, because the museum was closing.
As though the permanent exhibits weren’t enough, there are also multiple temporary exhibits on offer — we saw one on the Valencian cities and towns of the 1800s. Pretty fascinating.
The next time you feel the need for culture, don’t forget about the Museo de Prehistoria. Just wear comfortable shoes.