You won't feel the 'ponent' wind in the museum! Special Summer Program 2026

IVAM's special summer programme is running and continues until 23 September 2026. The listing does not spell out the individual activities — they change week to week — so the calendar with dates and times has to come from the museum's own site.

The joke in the title

The ponent is the west wind. It arrives over the inland hills already dry and overheated and can push the city's temperature up several degrees in a few hours. In July and August it is what turns a bearable afternoon into an unbearable one. Hence the title: inside the museum, air-conditioned, you do not feel it. Practically, that makes this a solid plan for the hottest stretch of the day, roughly 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., when a lot of València shuts anyway.

What IVAM is, and where

The Institut Valencià d'Art Modern was the first modern art museum in Spain outside Madrid. It holds the collection of Julio González, the Valencian sculptor who pioneered welded iron. It stands on Guillem de Castro, on the line of the demolished city wall at the edge of the Carmen quarter; a surviving stretch of the medieval wall is built into the basement.

Getting there and what to pair it with

It is a ten-minute walk from the Torres de Quart, with several bus routes along Guillem de Castro. Do not bring a car into the Carmen — parking is scarce and expensive. Five minutes away is the Centre del Carme, a former convent that is the neighbourhood's other contemporary art venue. Admission prices and any reduced-entry days are on the museum's official page; the rest of the city's collections are in our museum guide.