Barcelona, Valencia Promote Gardens’ Spring Displays
Spain’s Barcelona and Valencia are highlighting their gardens this spring. As Spain’s second- and third-largest metropolises, respectively, each blend Roman, Catalan and Arab pasts with modernity has given root to spectacular parks and gardens next to the Mediterranean Sea.
The distinctive Spanish garden style, filled with villas and fountains, original architecture, and plants and foliage are on display in these two “garden cities.”
In Barcelona, Park Güell was created by architect Antonio Gaudí. Deserving special attention is the Sala Hispóstila with its 86 imposing columns, as well as the mythological dragon at the main staircase, the undulating bench of pieces of broken ceramic called trencadís, the frenzied pavilions at the entrance, and the stone viaducts that mimic the surrounding nature perfectly. Above it all, stands a tower topped with Gaudí’s characteristic four-branched cross.
The highlight of Horta Labyrinth park is its eponymous maze. Home to numerous gardens and pavilions, Horta Labyrinth features many different routes, statues, and exuberant greenery. These gardens were created at the end of the 18th century by a Catalan aristocrat on a piece of his ancestral property.
Designed in the Italian and French romantic styles, the gardens underwent extensive renovation and improvement by the family until the Barcelona city government acquired the grounds and opened them to the public in 1969.
Designed in 1870 by Josep Fontsere, the idea behind Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park was to transform the facilities at the site of the military citadel built by Philip V at the end of the War of Spanish Succession into public gardens to house the first Universal Exposition. About half of the park’s 60 hectares is home to the city zoo.
The remainder of the park holds many scenic romantic paths around its lake and avenues that enable visitors to admire the park’s foliage. The park’s centerpiece is the Cascada, a triumphal fountain built in 1881, complete with a pair of crab statues that salute the goddess Venus and the gleaming Quadriga de l’Aurora.
The University of Valencia Botanical Gardens dates back to 1802 when Vicente Lorente, its director, planted squares of foliage based on Carl Linneus’ plant classification. The park has been rebuilt several times, following destruction during the Spanish Civil War and the great flood in Valencia in 1957.
Today, the restored grounds house an impressive watchtower, a rock garden and impressive woods, but still retain its philosophy. Continuing its biological classification origin and purpose, the botanical gardens also house an aquarium, an aviary, several diverse greenhouses, and areas dedicated to aquatic plants and succulents.
Valencia’s Monforte Gardens date back to the 1860s and 1970s. These neoclassical orchards can be differentiated into three sections -- the Old Parterre with clipped hedges of spindle trees and abundant statuary on pedestals, the New Parterre with hedges of cypress and myrtle around the patio of water jets, and the natural woodland forest with numerous paths and trails to stroll in. Monforte completes its postcard of green beauty with a rose garden and a gallery of hanging plants.
The Umbracle is a tree-lined garden that doubles as a panoramic zone, offering views of the surrounding buildings, lakes, walkways and landscapes. Boasting vegetation characteristic of Valencia’s nearly perfect Mediterranean climate, the Umbracle also houses a collection of contemporary sculptures by internationally acknowledged artists in the Art Promenade, as well as the Garden of Astronomy, an open-access area that offers astronomy-related elements and activities.
