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In 1714, after a thirteen month long siege, Barcelona fell to the army of king Philips V during the war of the Spanish Succession. In order to keep firm control over Barcelona, the Bourbon king built the largest fortress in Europe, a star-shaped citadel or 'Ciutadella'. A large part of the Ribera district was demolished to make way for this fortress. The neighborhood was rebuilt thirty years later at another location as 'Barceloneta'. The symbol of central government was demolished between 1869 and 1878 after the Catalan general Prim handed over the citadel over to the city. Only three buildings survived: the chapel, the Governor's palace and the arsenal, now home to the Catalan Parliament.

At the northern corner of the park is the Cascada, a triumphal arch with waterfall and fountain built for the 1888 Universal exhibition. The Baroque construction was designed by Josep Fontsère - who was responsible for the conversion of the citadel site into a park - and took six years to complete.

The oldest building in the park is the Catalan Parliament Building, once part of the original Citadel.

Entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella

The Parc de la Ciutadella is a park in Ciutat Vella. After its establishment during the mid-19th century, it was for decades the only green area in the city, and hitherto of the most popular

Allegory to Progress: Agriculture and Marine statues by Agapit Vallmitjana (1830-1905) L'Agricultura

Allegory to Progress: Agriculture and Marine statues by Agapit Vallmitjana (1830-1905) L'Agricultura

La Marina

Allegory to Progress: Agriculture and Marine statues by

Agapit Vallmitjana (1830-1905) La Marina

Allegory to Progress:

Agriculture and Marine statues by Agapit Vallmitjana

(1830-1905) La Marina

Allegory to Progress: Industry and Commerce statues by Venanci Vallmitjana (1828-1919) El Comerç

Allegory to Progress: Industry and Commerce statues by Venanci Vallmitjana (1828-1919) El Comerç

Entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella

Allegory to Progress: Industry and Commerce statues by Venanci Vallmitjana (1828-1919) La Indústria

Allegory to Progress: Industry and Commerce statues by Venanci Vallmitjana (1828-1919) La Indústria

Home to Barcelona's zoo and the Catalan Parliament, this park hosts interesting events (and political demonstrations) throughout the year. But by far the biggest attractions are the massive fountain with its gorgeous central waterfall and sculptures, and a large lake, where you can rent a paddleboat for a few euros. The fountain of considerable size was designed by Josep Fontserè (with perhaps some attributions of the young student Antoni Gaudí, who at this time worked at Fontserès office).

Parc de la Ciutadella is one of the biggest, traditional parks in the city. Both the Catalan Parliament building and Barcelona Zoo are located on its grounds. Part of its charms lies in its ornamental cascade and artificial lake, and children love it. You can take a boat out onto the lake, play table tennis, or enjoy any of the other seasonal activities and events, such as dancing by the bandstand in the park.The park encourages you to stroll along its fountains, sculptures, and other interesting and attractive decorative features

The Cascada (waterfall or cascade in Spanish) is located at the northern corner of the park opposite to the lake. It was first inaugurated in 1881 without sculptures or any meticulous details, and was thereby criticized by the press, after which this triumphal arch was thoroughly amended by the addition of a fountain and some minor attributes, which required six years of construction from 1882 to 1888, and was thenceforth put on display at the Universal Exhibition, and hitherto not been redesigned.

Fontsére aimed to loosely make it bear resemblance to the Trevi Fountain of Rome.

Neptuno by Manel Fuxà i Leal (1850 –1927)

The four water-sprouting griffins were sculpted by the same artist that created the famous 7.2 m high statue of Columbus at Las Ramblas, his name, Rafael Atché (1854 - 1923)

Rafael Atché (1854 - 1923)

Rafael Atché (1854 - 1923)

Quadriga de l'Aurora (1885 by Rossend Nobas i Ballbé)

Quadriga de l'Aurora on the top of the Font de la cascada

A small podium is located in the centre of the monument. In front of it a sculpture (designed by Venanci Vallmitjana) of Venus standing on an open clam was placed.

Amfitrita by Josep Gamot (1860-1890)In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (Ἀμφιτρίτη) was a sea-goddess and wife of Poseidon

Neptuno by Manel Fuxà i Leal (1850 –1927)

Venus standing designed by Venanci Vallmitjana

Quadriga de l'Aurora, 1885 by Rossend Nobas i Ballbé

Leda by Manel Fuxà i Leal (1850 –1927)

Danae by Joan Flotats Llucià (1847 - 1917)

Danae by Joan Flotats Llucià (1847 - 1917)

Venus (Francesc Pagès)

Venus (Francesc Pagès)

Designed by Venanci Vallmitjana Venus de la Cascada was sculpted by Eduard B. Alentorn (1855 - 1920)

Medallions of lizard - Antoni Gaudí

The whole cascade is divided in two levels. From the podium on a path leads to the Feminine Sculpture and to the northeastern corner of the park, and upon following the route down the stairs the fountain's pond is rounded and the southern tip of the artifact is reached

The four water-sprouting griffins were sculpted by Rafael Atché (1854 - 1923), the same artist that created the famous 7.2 m high statue of Columbus at Las Ramblas

In 1888, Barcelona held the Exposición Universal de Barcelona extravaganza, inspired by Mayor Rius i Taulet, and the Parc de la Ciutadella was redesigned with the addition of sculptures and other complementary works of art. The Castillo de los Tres Dragones was constructed briefly previous to the Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888) by the architect Lluís Doménech i Montaner, and served as exhibition to the aforementioned extravaganza. Most of the building is constructed, as to be seen on the picture, with red bricks.

Castillo de los Tres Dragones, until 2010 hosted zoology collections of the Museum of Natural Sciences when they were transferred to the Forum Building

The ceramic decoration-patterned Joan Llimona and Alexandre de Riquer (1888)

The 'Castel dels Tres Dragons‘ was built to resemble a medieval castle and served as a restaurant during the 1888 exhibition.

This stone mammoth was built based upon a model by sculptor Miquel Dalmau and as part of an initiative of Norbert Font i Sagué (1874-1910), writer, geologist and renown speleologist. Thanks to Norbert Font speleology was first introduced in Catalonia.

The five gazelles represent the Monument dedicated to Walt Disney on the occasion of his death, inaugurated 9 november 1969. Work by Nuria Tortras, located at the Barcelona Zoo.

Text and pictures: InternetCopyrights of the photos belong to each photographer

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Josep Carreras & luis Llach - El cant dels ocells