PARQUE DEL OESTE

Description

Essentials about Parque del Oeste in brief

If you want to stretch your legs a bit in the green after sightseeing in downtown Madrid, you should head to nearby Parque del Oeste (West Park). The park begins just a short distance north of the Royal Palace of Madrid and stretches along the Manzanares River to the Ciudad Universitaria (University City). The almost 100 hectares large green area in the style of an English garden is not only scenic, but also has some unusual facilities to offer with a huge rose garden, an Egyptian temple and a cable railroad.

The history of Parque del Oeste

Parque del Oeste was created in two construction phases starting in 1893. It was created on the initiative of Madrid’s mayor Alberto Aquilera, according to plans by the city’s horticultural director Celedonio Rodrigáñez. During the Spanish Civil War, the park became the scene of battles, of which trenches and bunkers in the northern part still bear witness today. After the destruction of the war, the park was restored to its original state in the 1940s. Between 1956 and 1973, Parque del Oeste was expanded once again.

The landscape of Parque del Oeste

Parque del Oeste is popular not only for its proximity to the city center, but also for its diversity. It is remarkable both scenically and monumentally. The park is laid out like an English garden, with sharp changes in elevation and curved paths inspired by naturalism.

The attractions in Parque del Oeste

Parque des Oeste is home to a number of unique installations and facilities: A cable car that connects the park to the Casa de Campo green space, located on the other side of the Manzanares River; a ceramics school; a 15,000-square-meter rose garden where an international rose competition is held each year; the extraordinary Temple of Debod, a 2nd-century B.C. Egyptian temple, which the Egyptian government donated to the Spanish during the construction of the Aswan Dam; the Fuente de Juan de Villanueva, one of Madrid’s largest fountains; and the Cementerio de La Florida, where the Spanish insurgents executed by the French occupiers in 1808 (immortalized by Goya in his world-famous painting) were buried.