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While the garden is representative of when it was created, which gives personality are architectural elements that surround the romantic garden. This garden is located at a higher level compared to the rest of the land, that accident was allowed to establish two distinct areas.

Communication between the two levels is through a pair of bridges, each stone and the other of iron suspended in the air, and the junction is a pillared hall at the back of the square gravel that covers the bottom of the park.

This place can be reached by two flights of stairs wide gentle slope, with steps gravel stone finishes. They are located at both ends of the space and both passed under the bridges. If those go up on the stone bridge to go to the square top, the view of the arch of the bridge over the stairs surrounded by vegetation is really beautiful.

vegetation

The creation of these gardens in the late nineteenth century, means that inside there are trees, such as pines (Pinus halepensis) and Australian pine (Casuarina cunninghamiana) that is close to the main entrance of the park, the street Mandri. Other trees present in this green space, also with a copy centenari- are hackberry (Celtis australis), the stone pine (Pinus pinea), the Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica), the Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila) and acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia). Planting newer, find the Sophora secundiflora the cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera Atropurpurea ') and braquiquíton (Brachychiton populneus).

It should be noted another species: the yellow-flowered Bignon (Doxantha-anointed cati), a very ornamental deciduous vine that hangs from one end to the other of the upper part of the front of the pillared hall. Very florífera if he loses leaf branches are adorned by then, very long (25 to 30 cm) and that changing color from green to, once dry, dark brown.

Art and Architecture

Along with the two bridges, the stone and steel pendulum with wooden flooring copy what John Roebling did in Niagara Falls, the most prominent architectural feature is the large Ca n'Altimira with pillared hall vaults from 36 Romanesque columns, very high and built with sandstone. On one side of the square, which remains attached to the wall of the mansion on the estate, there is a niche in which is installed a fountain.

history

This garden was built in the middle of the last century by Dr. Josep Altimira in his estate of Sant Gervasi. Figure wealthy and somewhat extravagant, a reverse of fortune left him on the verge of poverty and donated their properties to the Order of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception, which took care until death, since they had no heirs. The nuns settled in a school building, the Immaculate Conception of the building that occupies a good part of the old gardens, which, previously, had been affected by the opening of the streets of Horace and Mandri.

The small green grounds that we know today, therefore, is only part of what were possibly very unique gardens with artificial underground caves that connected the pillared hall with the house owner. According Francesc Curet in his Visions Barcelona, ​​the lakes that were the gardens doctor put it Altimira sardines, and to keep them alive each day did bring seawater. It made him very parties and sometimes flooded the lower part of the gardens and the room so guests could navigate with boats.

Automatically translated with Google Translate API.