Príncipe Felipe Science Museum

The room opens with you standing beneath a monumental white body of curves and ribs that reads as if a whale had decided to lie down in stone and light. The façade, engineered to resemble the skeleton of a giant creature, towers over you at about 55 meters high, with more than 40,000 square metres of interior space. This is the Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, a centerpiece of Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences.

The bold silhouette was designed by Santiago Calatrava and built by a joint venture of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and Necso. It began its life around the mid-1990s, with a symbolic inauguration in March 2000 by Felipe, Prince of Asturias—the future King Felipe VI—and it officially opened to the public on 13 November 2000, supported by an investment of 26 billion pesetas. Now we peel back the layers.

Before the doors ever opened, the project had to translate a futuristic vision into a material reality. The building’s skeletal form is not just a striking image; it’s the structural backbone of a science museum meant to feel playful and tactile. Inside, you’ll notice that the space is arranged to invite interaction rather than display preservation—an approach that aligns with its mission to host interactive exhibitions and temporary collections related to science and technology “without valuable items.” That phrase signals a deliberate shift away from precious, handle-with-care displays toward experiences that you can touch, test, and test again.