Qualla: Oratory of the Borgias https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:38:46 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Oratory of the Borgias https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias Oratory of the Borgias: Introduction https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias/ Photo credit Alberto Julbe, CC BY-SA 4.0. The name Borgia summons Renaissance Rome: poison and intrigue, warrior cardinals, popes who ruled like princes. Yet the dynasty did not begin in an Italian palace. It began here, on the quiet plain of Canals in the Valencian interior, where a small Gothic chapel still stands beside a family tower. Long before a Borgia sat on the throne of Saint Peter, this was the family's ancestral ground, a señorío of stone and orchard far from the corridors of the Vatican. The Oratory of the Borgias, also called the Church of the Tower, is where that improbable climb quietly started.

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Image: Alberto Julbe | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/eyzt-oratory-of-the-borgias-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Oratory of the Borgias: Where the Borgias Began https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias/ Photo credit Alberto Julbe, CC BY-SA 4.0. The oratory once formed part of the palace complex the Borgias held at the Señorío de Torre de Canals, their ancestral power base. From these unremarkable acres the family rose astonishingly far. Alfons de Borja, born of this Valencian line, became Pope Callixtus III, and a kinsm...

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Image: Alberto Julbe | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/eyzt-oratory-of-the-borgias-where-the-borgias-began.mp3 0:06 2 full Oratory of the Borgias: A Gothic Chapel by the Tower https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias/ Photo credit Alberto Julbe, CC BY-SA 4.0. The building itself is plain and old, raised most likely in the 13th century in the early Valencian Gothic style. It stands directly in front of the Borgias Tower, and over the centuries it has been reworked more than once. The design is simple and strong: a single rectangular na...

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Image: Alberto Julbe | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/eyzt-oratory-of-the-borgias-a-gothic-chapel-by-the-tower.mp3 0:06 3 full Oratory of the Borgias: The Relic of the True Cross https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias/ Photo credit Alberto Julbe, CC BY-SA 4.0. The oratory was first dedicated to the True Cross, and that dedication ties it directly to the family's Roman glory. Tradition holds that one of the panels of the main altar depicted the True Cross and commemorated a relic given by Pope Callixtus III himself, a gift flowing back ...

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Image: Alberto Julbe | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/eyzt-oratory-of-the-borgias-the-relic-of-the-true-cross.mp3 0:06 4 full Oratory of the Borgias: What Was Lost, What Remains https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias/ Photo credit Alberto Julbe, CC BY-SA 4.0. History has not been gentle to the chapel's treasures. The original main altar was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, and the shield bearing the arms of the House of Borgia vanished after a renovation in 1878. What survives still rewards a visit. A medieval panel painting de...

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Image: Alberto Julbe | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/eyzt-oratory-of-the-borgias-what-was-lost-what-remains.mp3 0:06 5 full Oratory of the Borgias: The Route of the Borgias https://qualla.com/oratory-of-the-borgias/ Photo credit Alberto Julbe, CC BY-SA 4.0. The oratory does not stand alone in memory. It anchors one end of the Route of the Borgias, a trail of chapels, palaces, and towers threaded through this corner of Valencia that follows the family from its rural cradle toward wealth and power. Nearby Xàtiva, with its long castle ...

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]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/t/oratory-of-the-borgias-wp/eyzt-oratory-of-the-borgias-the-route-of-the-borgias.mp3 0:06 6 full