Lost Under the Glass: Ripalda Passage and the Flower Passage as Two Faces of 19th-Century Modernity

Lost Under the Glass: Walking Between Two 19th-Century Passages from Valencia to Istanbul

Lost Under the Glass

On the Threshold of the 19th Century, Walking Between Two Passages from Valencia to Beyoğlu

🎧 Juan Arenosa – Cordelia (2024) A mute, timeless, spaceless accompaniment between Valencia and Istanbul.


Going through a passage is often not just getting from one street to another. When stepping under the glass, the sound changes, the light softens, and the gait slows down on its own.

This is how I feel when I walk under the glass cover of Pasaje Ripalda in Valencia; Also in the Flower Passage in Istanbul. Despite their differences, both seem to be the product of the desire to make modern life visible and experiential through architecture in the last quarter of the 19th century; Like two different sentences from the same period, written in glass and stone.


The end of the 19th century marks a period in which daily life in European and Mediterranean cities began to overflow into the public sphere. Industrialization, new transportation networks and the growing bourgeois class lead to the emergence of new spaces suitable for wandering, looking and appearing in urban centers. Arcades are the architectural equivalent of this need: intermediate spaces located between the street and the interior, softening the boundaries of the public and the private. Walter Benjamin's treatment of passages as a lens through which to read the everyday life of modernity is therefore significant; The passage is a stage where modernity is not only represented but experienced in person.


At the end of the 19th century, Valencia was a relatively stable bourgeois city, strengthened by Mediterranean trade. Cafes, clubs, and arcades become essential scenes of public life, especially for the middle and upper classes. Walking around the city center, looking at the shop windows and being visible in a controlled manner are considered part of modern life. Buildings such as Ripalda Passage are the spatial equivalent of this orderly and measured social life; There is a crowd but it does not disperse, public life flows within certain limits.


In the same period, Istanbul had a much more fragmented and active social fabric. The Beyoglu line, in particular, is one of the most cosmopolitan areas of the Ottoman capital: theaters, taverns, cafes, hotels and embassies are located next to each other. Different languages, classes and cultures merge in everyday life. Public life is noisier, more unexpected and more porous. Structures like the Cité de Péra are not merely a space for circulation within this intense social contact, but work as a natural extension of encounters and pauses.

Today, the experience in these two passages differs markedly. Walking through Ripalda Passage is still orderly and calm; The space makes the user feel clearly where to enter and where to exit. The transition is fluid, the sense of direction is clear, and the walk is uninterrupted. In Çiçek Pasajı, the march is often interrupted by today's crowd; the light scatters, the sounds overlap, the people stop and linger. For this reason, moving from one place to another is often intertwined with staying.

ripalda passage
flower passage

Where does this difference come from?

This difference must be due to the fact that these two buildings, which were designed in a similar architectural order in the past, are lived in different ways with the daily rhythm of cities today. The reason why Ripalda Passage is still predominantly used as a passing place is that the building has been designed to encourage a regular circulation from the beginning. Designed by architect Joaquín María Arnau Miramón in 1889, the passage was built in the historic center of Valencia on the initiative of the Ripalda family, one of the wealthy families of the period. The same family built a residential building in Miramón along with the passage, representing both the public and private faces of modern life with architecture.

Inspired by 19th-century arcades in Italy and France, this arrangement offers a conscious break from the hustle and bustle of urban streets; It emphasizes progress rather than stopping, transition rather than stalling. For this reason, Ripalda works as an inner street that prioritizes walking from the day it was first designed.


Cité de Péra and Another Rhythm of Beyoğlu

Cité de Péra, the predecessor of the Flower Passage, is nourished by the same ideal of modernity as the idea of the passage that emerged in 19th century Europe, but it is not an exact copy of this typology. Like many arcades in Europe, it offers a glass-covered interior and a commercial circulation area; However, the transition is part of a mixed-use structure rather than the primary function of the building. The fact that there are residences on the upper floors and shops on the lower floors makes this place not just a passage to be crossed, but a living structure.

This situation is closely related to the context of Beyoğlu, where the building is located. In late 19th century Istanbul, Beyoğlu was the center of a multilingual and multicultural social life, where theaters, cafes, hotels and diplomatic missions were concentrated. The Cité de Péra takes shape as a permeable space within this vibrant environment, open to everyday encounters from the outset.

From this point of view, Ripalda offers an example closer to the classical passage logic; Cité de Péra presents a more reciprocal interpretation of the idea of the passage, adapted to the social and spatial conditions of Beyoğlu. Today, the difference in usage between the two passages can be easily understood when viewed through this distinction.

gaudi

Modernity and a Small Detour in Ripalda

Modernity in Ripalda is evident not only in the architectural form, but also in the early functions of the building. At the beginning of the 20th century, Café Inglés and Café Hungría, located in or right next to the arcade, are important meeting points for Valencia's intellectual circles. In the same period, the Gran Hotel Ripalda, located within the passage, increases the prestige of the building as an element representing the modern accommodation approach; some architectural historical sources also state that one of the early examples of elevators in Valencia was used here.


Ripalda Passage is often described as an example of orderly, calm and restrained modernity. Its architectural language is clear; It is clear what it is for, it has no ornament that can be put in the eye. For this reason, it stands side by side with an idea of modernization that has no surprises in most narratives. Precisely within this orderly framework, a small story wanders from time to time. Some local sources say that a showcase within the passage uses glass dome and stained glass designs attributed to Antoni Gaudí in the early 20th century. This information is not confirmed in the basic sources of architectural history; it remains a detail that circulates in the local memory and should be approached with caution.


The common point of academic sources is that these glass elements, regardless of who they belong to, have not survived to the present day in the original integrity of the passage. These glass details, which were displaced during renovations at the end of the 20th century, suggest that even Ripalda's relationship with glass can change over time.

Today and Remembered

Today, when you walk through the Flower Passage, the architectural frame still evokes the 19th century; however, the rhythm of the place belongs entirely to today. Tables narrow the passage, voices overlap, glances meet. Walking here is intertwined with staying. In Ripalda, on the other hand, the transition is still dominant; The passage largely retains the idea of measured circulation for which it was designed. Despite this, narratives about glass details that existed in the past but are not in place today bring to mind how sensitive this continuity is.


The difference between these two passages becomes evident in the relationship that cities establish with them rather than architecture. While Ripalda continues to exist as an architectural trace representing the orderly and idealized face of modernization; The building, which transformed from Cité de Péra to Flower Passage, continues to live by changing its function and incorporating social memory. These two buildings, which are the product of the same century, show that there is no single form of modernity; It shows that it can take different shapes according to geography, social practices and daily life.
passage pasaje ripalda valencia espania

Ripalda passage valencia

earliest passageway in Valencia Spain

Flower Passage Istanbul Turkiye

Cite de Pera Istanbul Turkiye

Pasaje Ripalda

Ripalda Passage Valencia Espania

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A Walk Under the Glass

Perhaps the next thing to do is to see fewer places and walk a little slower on your next visit to Istanbul. To turn into the crowd of Istiklal and pass through the Flower Passage without rushing; Listening to the tempo of the crowd here, remembering that measured rhythm felt under the glass cover of Ripalda in Valencia. Noticing the light filtering through the glass, the sounds stuck between the tables, and the lives touching each other.

There is still an invisible link between the steps taken in Valencia on the threshold of the 19th century and those in Istanbul. It is not necessary to know history to feel that connection; Sometimes it is enough to just keep walking. Don't shorten your route on your next hike.
If you like surprises like Istanbul, take the risk of lingering in a passage for a while.