Falla Rodríguez de Cepeda-Lorenzo Palmireno Celebrates Half a Century of History

The commission, originating in expanding neighborhoods, commemorates 50 years of Fallas tradition with a special program and new artists.

Detail of a Fallas monument with papier-mâché figures and vibrant colors.
IA

Detail of a Fallas monument with papier-mâché figures and vibrant colors.

The Falla Rodríguez de Cepeda-Lorenzo Palmireno, located in Camins al Grau, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, establishing itself as one of the most experienced commissions in the city of València.

This commission, which erected its first falla in 1978, emerged from València's urban expansion during the 1960s and 1970s, filling the space between the city center and the Poblats Marítims. Its creation was part of a wave of new fallas in the area, such as Duque de Gaeta or Industria, Artes y Oficios, and it was established near the Mercat d'Algirós and the Casa de la Salud.
From its beginnings, with Rafael Estivalis as president and Virgilio Torrecilla as the artist of the first monument, the falla showed rapid growth. As early as 1980, they achieved a second prize and first for ingenuity and grace with a work by Ramón Iranzo. However, it has been since the turn of the century that they have particularly excelled in the Third and Fourth sections, often under the guidance of artist Manolo Martínez Reig.
The year 2023 was particularly successful, with Mario Gual nearly achieving the "four-leaf clover" with a double win in both the main and children's fallas. Although the children's falla prize was a second place, the commission demonstrated its potential. For this fiftieth anniversary, the collegiate presidency, formed by Salvador Domínguez Pascual, Lorenzo Miró Navarro, and Rafael Estivalis Palau, has confirmed the artists.
For the main falla, they will feature the debut of José Miguel Gasent, a recognized specialist in these categories, with a script by Roberto Elías. The children's falla will once again be handled by "El Talleret", with Iris Pitarch and José Vicente Castell, who already secured an eighth prize in Section Nine last March with their Ciclo del Agua.
As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, a Solidarity Dance Exhibition was organized on March 1 to benefit the Spanish Association of Metastatic Breast Cancer (CMM), which was attended by the fallera mayor of València, Carmen Prades. Since the previous May, the commission has been seeking former representative officials to involve them in the commemorative events.