The municipal corporation's intention to re-erect the monument in its original location, on the sands of Cabanyal beach, clashes with current legislation. The Coastline Authority rejected the three proposals submitted by the Department of Culture in May 2025, a year ago.
All information in this news is new to everyone except the City Council itself, which received this response from the Spanish Government in October 2025, but had not disclosed it to the media or the opposition until now.
The recovery of the Sorolla Monument, destroyed by the 1957 flood, originated in the previous political cycle. The confirmation of the authenticity of the found fragments encouraged the collection and cataloging of the scattered remains. Some of these were found in diverse places such as the Paiporta cemetery, FGV warehouses in Sant Isidre, or the Borbotó slaughterhouse.
The results of this study, promoted by the Municipal Archaeological Research Section (SIAM), were presented at the Museu de la Ciutat in July 2024. This confirmed the authenticity of the pieces and the necessary information for an ambitious plan: with 60% of the monument reassembled, the ensemble could become a reality again.
“"This is one of the most outstanding initiatives we are working on, with which we want to fulfill Sorolla's own wishes, as well as settle a historical debt of this city with one of its most illustrious sons, and which will mean returning the monumental complex to the place that inspired and served as a backdrop for his splendid beach scenes."
At the same press conference, the City Council detailed that they would present three possible locations to the Coastline Authority, Environment, and Urban Planning. The first, the original, on the sand. And as alternatives, the promenade or a nearby plot. All on Cabanyal beach. Finally, it was not until May 2025 that the Historical Heritage Service sent the report to the Coastline Authority, justifying each of the options.
The report denying the three options proposed by the consistory, due to conflicting legislation, was received by the City Council in October 2025. Sources from the demarcation assure that “it is not a political decision and we would have no problem if they proposed other possibilities for the monument to be recovered. But it cannot be in the ones they presented.”
The City Council, therefore, has kept this report in a drawer from October 2025 until today. Even the opposition acknowledges that they have never been informed of the meaning or content of the Coastline Authority's response.
If the recovery of the Sorolla Monument was a legislative project, at this point it is almost impossible for it to remain so. The City Council not only knows since October that it cannot do so in any of the three proposed locations, but, as can be deduced from the Coastline Authority's response, it has not proposed any alternative. Sending a new proposal, having it studied and approved, and then tendering a project to make it a reality, extends the timeline much longer than the year remaining in the legislature.
Since that July 2024, other projects have taken center stage on the municipal agenda. Mainly two: the collaboration with the Sorolla Museum of València, which will be provisionally located in the Museu de la Ciutat, and the future Espai Valdés, located in the Parc Central, whose tender for the adaptation of the projected nave is ongoing. These projects are making their way, and it seems that the Sorolla Monument is stepping aside.
On the other hand, along with the recovery of the pieces of the ensemble dedicated to the most prestigious Valencian painter of the 20th century, the collection of the remains of the tortada de Goerlich was also launched, which the City Council has planned to place in the old bed of the Turia River, at the height of the Museu de Belles Arts.
