A visit to the Maternitat Gardens
23/05/2007 at 08:00 h.
Text: Maria Rosa Salvadó
Photos: Dani García
On Travessera de les Corts, right beside the grounds of the Barcelona football club, there is a large area with buildings of major architectural value surrounded by large expanses of lawns. Tall, century-old trees abound. These are the Jardins de la Maternitat - the Maternity Gardens - where the visitor can still enjoy the calm surroundings and environment, the purpose for which the gardens were created. On one of the flowerbeds stands a sculpture of a woman with a child in her arms, recalling the origins of these gardens.
The gardens
The construction of the complex at the end of the 19th century - Casa Provincial de Maternitat i Expòsits (Provincial Maternity and Foundlings Home) - was for welfare motives. Because of this, and its large size, the gardens were designed to have their own identity and to cushion the space occupied by the pavilions, so guaranteeing rest for patients and making it that much more pleasant to walk within the grounds and between buildings.
The gardens are large grass-covered areas on either side of broad gravel paths that link, harmoniously, both the pavilions and the accesses to the grounds. When looking at the gardens from above, the expanse of well-groomed lawns gives a sensation of space. The grounds are laid out on a longitudinal axis and, going down Avinguda de Joan XXIII and entering Carrer del Doctor Salvador Cardenal, they connect Diagonal with Travessera de les Corts, so the garden's paths are used by many neighbours to move about this part of the city on foot or by bicycle.
Plant life
Many of the large trees scattered over the spacious lawns are highly ornamental with spectacular flowers, like the love trees with their small, abundant and intensely pink flowers that appear early in the spring, or the hog plum trees with their reddish-purple leaves.
The Jardins de la Maternitat have many trees, with as many as 40 different species. There are eucalyptus, mulberries, olive trees, false peppers, cypresses and enormous pines of a variety of species, acacias, rosewood trees, Japanese pagoda trees, horse chestnuts, weeping willows, fig trees, ombu trees, poplars, and more. There are a couple of things you should not miss: the very tall Canary Island date palms and common date palms, and three exceptionally large magnolias, one of which is gigantic, and probably the biggest in Barcelona: 12 metres high, with a spread of 15 metres. It is a truly remarkable spectacle at the end of spring, when its huge white flowers open.
Rest, watch and play
The Jardins de la Maternitat are the perfect place to sit and rest on one of the many benches on either side of the footpaths. They invite you to sit down for a quiet read or simply watch the beautiful surroundings, as few people are there.
As there is a great variety of plants, especially trees, this is also a good place for amateur botanists, as they can see specimens of relatively uncommon dimensions and quality.
Children have the run of two playgrounds. One is in a hollow, approximately in the middle of the gardens, surrounded by white cedars with a large Japanese pagoda tree in the middle of the lawn, close to the playground; the other playground is in the upper part of the grounds, behind a small wall.
And there is yet another facet to these gardens that is worth considering, and that is its proximity to Camp Nou football stadium, making it the perfect place to sit for a while before the game begins.
Did you know...
The origins of the valuable architectural heritage of the Jardins de la Maternitat date back to the welfare, health needs and medical care of the disadvantaged: care for abandoned children, secret pregnancies.
Between 1889 and 1898, the Provincial Council of Barcelona initiated the creation of the Casa Provincial de Maternitat i Expòsits, for these charitable purposes. Built on the grounds of Can Cavaller, the initial project for the structure of the grounds and pavilions - the greater part Modernista - was given to Camil Oliveres i Gensana, at the time architect to the Provincial Council, who distributed the buildings on the grounds independently, according to the most advanced health standards of the day. After his death, other architects continued the project.
The Breast-Feeding and Ave Maria Pavilions, located close to the entrance on Travessera de les Corts, are the work of Oliveres. Josep Borí i Gensana continued the work with the construction of the Prat de la Riba Pavilion. In 1924, Joan Rubió i Vellver and Josep Goday i Casals built the Pavelló Rosa (Pink Pavilion), and Goday the Pavelló Blau (Blue Pavilion). At the end of the fifties, Manuel Baldrich i Tubau built the Cambó Pavilion on Travessera.
Currently the buildings house Les Corts Secondary School, COM Radio station and departments of the Provincial Council and faculties of the University of Barcelona
PARK INFORMATION
District: Les Corts
Area: 7.68 ha
Location: bordered by Travessera de les Corts and the streets Maternitat, Doctor Salvador Cardenal and Mejía Lequerica.
Listing: urban park.
Initial design project: Camil Oliveres i Gensana
Remodelling: Barcelona Provincial Council
Opened to the public: 1998
Facilities: children's play areas
Opening times: Mondays to Fridays, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays: October to March, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; April and September, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and May to August (except September), 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays and official holidays: October to March, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; April and September, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and May to August, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Entrance: Travessera de les Corts and the streets Maternitat, Doctor Salvador Cardenal and Mejía Lequerica.
Transport: bus: 7, 15, 33, 43, 59, 63, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 75, 113; metro: line 3 - Maria Cristina.
MORE INFORMATION
