Above the Trees of Parc de la Ciutadella
by Lorraine Devon Wilke
Title
Above the Trees of Parc de la Ciutadella
Artist
Lorraine Devon Wilke
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Off the northeastern edge of old town Barcelona is the enormous (70 acres) Parc de la Ciutadella. Created in 1877 as city centerpiece - including a zoo, pond, museum, fountains, public art and statues - it is bordered by the famed Arc de Triomf at its entrance, and embellished with ornate streetlight fixtures and architecture, and as its many palm trees.
Uploaded
December 4th, 2013
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Comments (3)
Lorraine Devon Wilke
Thank you, Javier! From you, a Barcelona native, I take as quite a compliment your kind words! As for the more expansive history, yes, yes, yes!! Thank you for your additional details. Obviously I've only scratched the surface so I'm delighted to have deeper perspective on these amazing, historical places I so humbly captured in your beautiful city!
Javier RU
The park gets its name from the infamous "Ciudadela", a military fortress of monumental proportions (about a quarter of the size of the entire city at the time) that was built to keep Barcelona subjugated to the Castilian regime after being taken over in 1714 by the Franco-Castilian alliance. The Citadele stood where we can now find the Ciutadella Park and beyond, both outwards, towards open land, and inwards, towards the city. This last point was what proved the fortress to be a project of special cruelty and intentional punishment against the citizens even after the war was over, since hundreds of families were forced to not only leave their homes, but to bring them to the ground themselves to make space for the walls and the demanded separation between those and any residential building. Three buildings that were part of the fortress remain today inside the Ciutadella Park: the chapel; the governor's palace, which now hosts a school; and the old arsenal building, which was remodeled and is now home to the Parliament of Catalonia. In front of the Parliament building you can find the very dramatic sculpture by Josep Llimona, "desconsol" (desolation), floating in the middle of the pond and the oval greenery around it, which you took a beautiful picture of. Just thought I'd share a bit of our history with you and those who enjoy looking at your magnificent photographs :)
Javier RU
Lorraine, as a BCN native and resident I have to say I'm in love with the way you captured our city in all of these photographs. The ones from Parc de la Ciutadella are very warm, elegant and tasteful. Did you know that what later became the Ciutadella park was originally built as the site for the 1888 World Exhibit? Some of the pavilions still stand inside the park, like the "Castell dels Tres Dracs", now home to the Museum of Zoology, or the green house that still provides for the park's landscaping. The Arch (Arc de Triomf) was the main gateway to the fair and the Cascade Fountain was to be the centerpiece and meeting point. Another piece that still remains from 1888 is the monument to Columbus at the end of Las Ramblas, which was also built in the same early Modernist style, ubiquitous to the time and later taken to a whole new dimension by architects such as Antoni Gaudí or J.M Puig i Cadafalch. The very Antoni Gaudí projected a pavilion for the CTE that stood at the maritime site of that exhibit. Sadly, the building was demolished a few years later during the remodeling of the promenade to make way for the "Passeig Marítim".