Hortensia Herrero Opens Private Museum in Valencia

Philanthropist Hortensia Herrero has inaugurated the Centro d’arte Hortensia Herrero in Valencia, a new museum housing her private collection of contemporary art. Located in a restored 17th-century palace on calle del Mar, the project cost approximately €40 million and took ten years to complete, designed by Erre Arquitectura (which includes her daughter Amparo Roig). The building, formerly a newspaper office and nightclub, revealed archaeological fragments during renovation: a Roman circus, Arabic star fountains, a medieval oven, and traces of the old Jewish quarter. Six site-specific installations were commissioned: Tomás Saraceno's hanging clouds, Jaume Plensa's steel sculpture, Mat Collishaw's immersive video inspired by Las Fallas, Olafur Eliasson's optical tunnel, Cristina Iglesias's limestone walls, and Sean Scully's intervention in the chapel with 19th-century Valencian paintings. The collection of about 100 works by 50 international artists includes pieces by Calder, Dubuffet, Tapiès, Chillida, Baselitz, Kapoor, El Anatsui, Kiefer, Hockney, and others. The museum spans 3,500 square meters across 17 rooms on four floors, with a catalog published by Skira edited by curator Javier Molins. Herrero's wealth comes from Mercadona, the supermarket chain founded by her husband Juan Roig.