THe GardenS OF MUrcIa

THE GARDENS
OF MURCIA
DEPÓSITO LEGAL: MU-882-2013
Murcia enjoys some 4.3 million m2 of park and garden areas in the broadest sense, an area shared
out between the capital and the 53 districts that
make up the municipal area. The most important gardens, and generally the oldest, are to
be found mainly in the various residential areas
of the capital, and in this leaflet, we have tried
to offer a kind of pen-portrait of some of them.
Tourist Information Office
Plaza Cardenal Belluga. Edificio Ayuntamiento.
30004 Murcia. Spain
e-mail: [email protected]
Tel.: 968 358 749 • Fax: 968 358 748
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Jardín de Floridablanca
T
his dates from the eighteenth
century, is Murcia’s most extraordinary garden, and is thought
to be one of the first public gardens
established in Spain. Its name honours the memory of the Murcian
politician José Moñino Redondo
(1728-1808), first Count of Floridablanca, of whom there is a statue set in the centre of a fountain.
Of particular note are some of the
centuries-old oriental plane trees,
as well as other younger trees,
such as figs, jacarandas, and Canary Island pine and palm.
T
o find the origins of this garden, we
have to go back to the middle of the
nineteenth century, with the creation of a
small botanical garden used for teaching
the pupils of a school. In 1974, the present
garden was created by joining those old
plots with some nearby orchards, for example that known as “the cypresses”, of
which we still have the restored entrance
from the Paseo del Malecón; this celebrated, symbolic winter promenade forms
one of the boundaries of the garden and
also gives it its name. This garden has the
greatest variety of trees in the municipal
area, with around 60 species, some very
rare, and some unique.
Jardín del Malecón
T
hese date from the 1960s and are based on the
old Parque Ruíz Hidalgo, which was located in the
groves on the banks of the river Segura where it passes
through Murcia. The garden has two parts separated
by the Puente Nuevo, and as we stroll through it, we
can enjoy examples of some remarkable trees.
Jardines de Teniente Flomesta
T
hese leafy gardens look onto the river and extend
the whole length of the Avenida Intendente Jorge
Palacios. They date from 1948-1953, when the building
of the residential areas was completed. Amongst the
wide variety of species in the garden are a Ginkgo and
a Podocarpus.
Jardines de Vistabella
Jardín del Auditorio / Jardín de Fofó
La Glorieta
T
his pedestrian garden square is one of the city’s
main meeting places. It was created in 1821 by
Don Francisco Bolarín Gómez (1768-1836), and
since then has undergone several modifications.
Its name has been changed on several occasions.
Presiding over the square is the Ayuntamiento
de Murcia (Town Hall), a neo-classical building
from the mid-nineteenth century; we also see
here the rear elevation of the Episcopal Palace, a
baroque building which dates from the middle of
the eighteenth century. An outstanding feature is
the fountains, which bring to mind those of the
Generalife gardens of Granada.
T
his garden dates from 1990 and is on land that was
originally the site of an old and prestigious silk factory
built in 1770, and taken down in the mid-twentieth century.
The preserved chimney serves as a reminder of that industry,
so important for Murcia. It has a small lake at either end,
connected by a winding stream. The trees are mostly still
young, but there is a great variety of species.
Jardín de la Seda
T
he Jardín del Auditorio or, as it’s popularly known, the
Jardín de Fofó, after the well-known clown of that name,
who is remembered in a statue in the garden, was created in
1971, although the lake and other changes were made during
the 1980s. There is a small auditorium giving the garden its
name where, in addition to shows, there is open-air cinema
in the summer.
Jardín del Salitre / de la Pólvora
T
he garden was created in 1987 on
land that was formerly the Murcia
Royal Saltpetre and Powder Factory.
As an enclosed space belonging to
the Army, its trees were maintained
in good condition. It has a small lake
and several clearly different areas,
and has the second widest range of
trees and palms after the Malecón
garden. Next to this garden is the
shaded Jardín Huerto-Cadenas,
formed in 1994 from former orchard
gardens given to the City Council.