🌴 Maria Luisa Park in Seville
Maria Luisa Park is the most beautiful park in Seville. Make sure you check it out.
🧒Private visits:
Whatsapp or Email
Groups and families. Cultural route, Expo 29 pavilions, botany…
Maria Luisa Park (Parque de María Luisa) stands as a vibrant green oasis, enchanting locals and visitors alike with its timeless beauty and serene ambiance.
🦆 Key facts
It is a park with free, wide access, ideal to discover on foot or by bike.
It houses the Archaeological Museum and the Plaza de España.
It has a beautiful history linked to 3 women: Isabel II, María Luisa and María de las Mercedes
It has a waterfowl area that children find very appealing.
It houses squares, monuments and sculptures of great beauty.
You can go up Mount Gurugú.
It is a good place in Seville to go for a picnic.
We highly recommend the pedal cart hire for a fun time.
Is not only a verdant escape from the bustling city but also a treasure trove of historical landmarks, stunning gardens, and delightful surprises waiting to be discovered.
Located south of the Historical Centre of the City of Seville, it is an authentic green lung for the regional capital city
Brief history
Maria Luisa Park is the most famous in the city. It was inaugurated in 1914 and was part of the private gardens of the Palace of San Telmo, later designed by the French landscape architect Nicolas Forestier in 1914.
Originally a part of the private gardens belonging to the Palace of San Telmo, the park was donated to the city of Seville by Infanta Maria Luisa Fernanda de Borbón in 1893
The Dukes of Montpensier settled in Seville in 1848, and they acquired the palace of San Telmo in 1850. They also bought two adjoining estates to prepare them as gardens of the palace. In 1893 the widowed Duchess ceded an important part of the gardens of San Telmo to the city, and they were incorporated into the urban heritage in 1911.
It can be accessed from the centre by leaving through the Puerta Jerez, via Calle San Fernando and Glorieta del Cid, or through the Barrio de Santa Cruz, crossing the Jardines de Murillo, entering from the north next to the Casino de la Exposición and the Plaza de España.
Another alternative is to reach the park via the Avenida de las Delicias and la Palmera, where we would enter the southern area, through the attractive Plaza de América.
The crown jewel of Maria Luisa Park is undoubtedly the Plaza de España, an architectural marvel that leaves visitors in awe.
The visit
The park boasts an array of majestic monuments and ornate fountains that add to its grandeur.
During the Universal Exhibition of 1929, it was radically transformed and several pavilions were inaugurated inside.
Map of Maria Luisa Park:
The park opens at 8 am and closes at 10 pm in the winter and midnight in the summer.
This park is one of the most interesting points if you visit Seville with children. There are two particularly fun attractions: the duck lake and the pigeons in the Plaza de América.
Maria Luisa Park is a must-see if you’re travelling with children. The ducks and pigeons are always delighted to receive some breadcrumbs from visitors
What to see in Maria Luisa Park
Among its paths, we will come across:
Roundabouts
Dotted about the park’s gardens, some decorated with statues or monuments and others simply decorated with fountains or benches. Here, we highlight the most important:
Bécquer’s Roundabout
Perhaps the best and most famous of all. Created in 1910, it is dominated by an impressive Cypress that covers and shades the entire enclosure and consists of a bust of the poet on a pedestal, based on the portrait made by his brother Valeriano and behind three marble female figures lying on a bench.
Beyond its natural beauty, Maria Luisa Park is a cultural and recreational hub, where artists showcase their talents, musicians fill the air with melodies, and families gather for shared moments of joy
Next to them are two figures in recumbent bronze representing “wounded love” and the other is of a young Cupid or sweetheart depicting a love that hurts. This monument is a national benchmark of the romantic style and era. Many people leave notes or poems in this little square, which is one of the hearts of romantic Seville.
The Bécquer roundabout is one of the most emblematic spaces in the park. Read some of his poetry in this place
Dante Alighieri’s Roundabout, dedicated to the Italian writer.
Roundabout of the Álvarez Quintero Brothers, great authors of comedies.
A visit to Maria Luisa Park is not only an escape from the urban hustle but also an invitation to uncover the timeless beauty that lies at the heart of this captivating oasis.
The Toreros’ (Bullfighters’) Roundabout, behind the previous roundabout made for the Ibero-American Exhibition, formed by a small fountain with four steps down, it is surrounded by four benches decorated with small tiles representing bullfighters and typical characters of Andalusia.
García Ramos’ Roundabout.
Roundabout of the soprano Ofelia Nieto, a famous soprano of the first half of the twentieth century.
Mas y Prats’ Roundabout, a Catalan genre writer who was part of the Sevillian literary life
Glorieta de la Cocha roundabout with a starry ceramic fountain in the centre.
Nicolas Forestier’s Roundabout, designer of the Maria Luisa Park.
Machado Brothers’ Roundabout.
Other interesting points
Within the park we should highlight the following:
Lotus Pond, with the Roundabout of La Infanta María Luisa, daughter of Queen Isabel II, who donated these gardens that bear her name to the city.
The Duck pond, decorated with an arbour on an island surrounded by a pond.
Fountains of the Frogs, ceramic, in the form of a pond
Garden of the Lions, with fountain and pergolas.
Mount Gurugú. An artificial hill, with steps that lead to the top, adorned with a gazebo and waterfall, named for the battle on a mountain of the same name near Melilla during the African War in 1921. It is recognised as a setting for love stories.
Climb the Gurugú to see the waterfall from above and beautiful views
The Plaza de España is one of the most spectacular buildings of regionalist architecture. It was built as the main building of the Exposition, with a navigable canal, and all the provinces of Spain are represented on its benches, in addition to the busts of illustrious Spaniards on its walls.
Plaza de América, known colloquially as Plaza de las Palomas (Pidgeon Square). It is beautifully landscaped with fountains, ponds and the Cervantes’ roundabouts, with a tree in its centre. The benches are decorated with scenes from Don Quixote in the area near Cervantine poet and writer Rodríguez Marín‘s roundabout, decorated with a fountain and tiles where we can see the poet depicted, both close to the Royal Pavilion.
Of particular note in Plaza de América is the old Pavilion of the Arts, formerly known as Renaissance, in Plateresque style. Its highlights include its main façade with a decorated portico, a beautiful pediment and a cresting. The surroundings are adorned with sculptures representing the fine arts, in Renaissance style. Today it houses the Archaeological Museum.
On the other side of the square is the Mudejar Pavilion, formerly known as the pavilion of Industry, Manufactures and Decorative arts, where its façade with two towers and its main courtyard, with two floors decorated with arcades, stand out. Nowadays it houses the headquarters of the Museum of Popular Arts and Customs of Seville.
At the east end, we find the Royal Pavilion, a building shaped like a Greek cross in Elizabethan Gothic style.
Deja un comentario