| Parque del Mirador | |
|---|---|
 Pergola and belvedere in the park | |
 | |
| Location | Pontevedra, Spain |
| Coordinates | 42°26′39″N08°37′44″W / 42.44417°N 8.62889°W |
| Area | 0.06 km2 (14.82 acres) |
| Created | 1906 |
| Operated by | Pontevedra City Council |
| Status | Public park |
Belvedere Park (Parque del Mirador in Spanish) is a public park in the Monte Porreiro neighbourhood of the Spanish city of Pontevedra.
The park is located at the western end of the Monte Porreiro neighbourhood of Pontevedra. It is bordered by Dinamarca and Francia streets and is very close to the UNED Associated Centre in the province of Pontevedra.
The park was designed at the beginning of the 20th century as a private garden for the indiano (Spanish emigrant who left for Latin America and returned rich) Casimiro Gómez Cobas, who returned from Argentina and bought the grand old estate called Tenencia de San Antonio Abad in 1900, put up for public auction at the end of the 19th century, and who renamed the property Villa Buenos Aires, in honour of his stay in the Argentinian capital, where he had made a large fortune. [1] [2]
Casimiro Gómez commissioned the Portuguese landscape gardener Jacinto de Matos, one of the most important Portuguese landscape gardeners of the first half of the 20th century, to design a garden to the west of his vast estate of Villa Buenos Aires. Jacinto de Matos, who owned a nursery in Porto, devoted himself to designing gardens, including several in southern Galicia. [3] The Portuguese landscape gardener designed a garden with a central path flanked by two rows of trees. By 1908, the park had already been laid out and, at the end of the central avenue, there was a small circular belvedere with an iron metal structure crowned by a dome, reached by six stone steps and designed as a viewpoint on a promontory overlooking the surrounding landscape and the Lérez river. [4]
After the First World War Casimiro Gómez oriented the activity of the Villa Buenos Aires estate towards an experimental farm [5] that also acted as a nursery for selected pine and eucalyptus seeds. [6] On either side of the central avenue of the park designed by Jacinto de Matos, two double rows of large exotic eucalyptus trees were planted. The trees came from the Areas nursery in the municipality of Tui, set up in 1906 by forestry engineer Rafael Areses Vidal. [7] [8] [9] Decades later, with the disappearance of the Villa Buenos Aires estate and the urban development of the Monte Porreiro neighbourhood in the 1970s, the belvedere overlooking the Lérez river was completely transformed, replacing the metal structure with a concrete one, and the park became a public space. [1]
At the end of 2000, the belvedere was restored by students from the Monte Porreiro workshop-school, and three rest areas with stone benches and paths were created to link the belvedere to Dinamarca Street. [4] Between 2006 and 2007, the park surrounding the belvedere was redesigned by these students, with benches, pavements, information panels and litter bins, and a children's play area and mini-golf course were created. The natural area surrounding the central pathway has also been improved, with the creation of paths, the integration of parking spaces and the creation of a fruit tree orchard. [10] [11]
In 2008, the belvedere was highlighted as a unique feature thanks to new ornamental lighting. The belvedere was illuminated with an intense white light, enhancing the view of the site from different points in the city. [12]
In 2010, stone walls were built to support the land, a new path was created that crosses the entire park, shrubs were planted, a BMX track was created and sports pitches with baskets and goals were installed in the lower part of the park. [13]
The park, which is almost entirely bounded by Dinamarca street along its entire perimeter and Francia street to the east, covers an area of 60,000 m2 and comprises a central walkway that begins in Francia street and continues from Italia street. [13] Scattered throughout the park and around the central walkway are around a hundred exotic eucalyptus trees with thick trunks at the base and broad leafy tops. [14] [15] These eucalyptus trees, arranged on both sides of the central avenue corresponding to the original design of the garden, form a double alignment, and include species of manna gum, rose gum, blue gum and bangalay. [9]
The central avenue of the Belvedere park is lit by around twenty lampposts that provide access to the belvedere at the end of the avenue, which offers a good view of the last stretch of the Lérez river. [16] The current belvedere is an octagonal structure that retains the original stone steps and has an upper terrace with balustrade accessed by an outside staircase on the right-hand side. On the north-west side of the park there is an 18-hole mini-golf course and a children's play area. [11]
Near the belvedere is a pergola supported by six granite columns, which houses an area with four stone benches. Near Dinamarca Street, which surrounds the lower part of the belvedere park, there are two sports fields with baskets and goals. [13]
The park is the meeting place par excellence in the Monte Porreiro neighbourhood and is also frequented by the rest of the population of Pontevedra. [17]
Pontevedra is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the Comarca and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is also the capital of its own municipality which is often considered an extension of the actual city.
Fires in Galicia are caused by deforestation and brush clearing, the removal of indigenous fauna, and arsonists. The fires have been occurring since the mid-1990s. Fires in Galicia represent 50% of the area burned each year in Spain and 40% of all fires.
The Burgo Bridge(Puente del Burgo) is a medieval bridge, built over an older bridge of Roman origin, which crosses the Lérez River in the city of Pontevedra, Spain. It is on the route of the Portuguese Way to the north of the historic centre of Pontevedra and to the south of the Burgo neighbourhood. Between the arches above the pillars are carved the famous stone pilgrim's shells.
The Covo Island, better known as the Island of Sculptures or Illa das Esculturas in Galician, is a park and island located near the mouth of the Lérez River, in Pontevedra, Spain. It has an area of 70,000 m² and is connected to both banks of the river by footbridges and pedestrian bridges. It is the largest and most important open-air museum in Galicia and one of the most important in Spain.
The Palm Trees Park, also known simply as Las Palmeras, is a public park in the heart of Pontevedra in Spain. It is the most representative and emblematic green area in the city centre, together with the Alameda de Pontevedra.
The Lérez beach is a Galician beach located in the municipality of Pontevedra in the province of Pontevedra, Spain. It is a semi-urban river beach with a length of 100 metres.
The Pontevedra campus is one of three campuses that host the University of Vigo. It is located in the Spanish city of Pontevedra and offers undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral studies in Social sciences, health sciences, arts, engineering and Sports.
The Convent of St. Clare is a former cloistered convent of the Order of Poor Clares, located in the city centre of Pontevedra, Spain, precisely in Santa Clara Street, near the disappeared St. Clare Gate of the medieval city walls. Founded in 1271, the convent closed in 2017. In 2021 the City Council bought the building from the Order, and in 2023 it transferred it to the Provincial Deputation to become part of the Pontevedra Museum.
The Natural Park of the Marismas de Alba, the Alba Marsh or the Xunqueira de Alba, is a natural park and wetland in the city of Pontevedra in Spain, and one of the few Marshes in the Ria de Pontevedra. It is a park used as a place for walking, cycling and observing the fauna and flora.
Monte Porreiro is a residential area in the city of Pontevedra (Spain). It is the seat of the National University of Distance Education in the province of Pontevedra. The neighbourhood has a health centre, a school and a high school and a parish church since the end of the 20th century, its patron saint being the Good Shepherd. There are also green areas, the most important being the Belvedere Park.
The Palace of Lourizán is a manor house in Herbalonga in the civil parish of Lourizán, in Pontevedra, Spain.
The Botanical Garden of Lourizán is an arboretum of some 54 hectares in the municipality of Pontevedra in Spain. It has more than 850 catalogued species and one of the largest collections in Spain. It is the most important botanical garden in Galicia.
The Central Market of Pontevedra is a covered market located in Pontevedra, Spain. It is located at the north-eastern edge of the historic centre, close to the Burgo Bridge. It overlooks the banks of the Lérez river and was inaugurated in 1948.
The paseo marítimo of Pontevedra is a pedestrian way along the seafront facing the ria of Pontevedra, in Pontevedra, Spain. This coastal public space is built in the urban and semi-urban area of the city and defines its encounter with the sea and the Lérez river.
O Burgo is a neighbourhood in the city of Pontevedra (Spain). It is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city and is crossed by the Portuguese Way. On its right-hand side is the A Xunqueira area with important educational and cultural facilities.
The UNED Associated Centre in Pontevedra is a university teaching centre of the National University of Distance Education (UNED) located in the Spanish city of Pontevedra. It is part of UNED's North-West Campus and is its most important centre.
The Plaza de Barcelos is a square dating from the beginning of the 20th century located in the city centre of Pontevedra (Spain), to the east of the historic centre of Pontevedra.
The Santiago Bridge crosses the Lérez River in the city of Pontevedra (Spain), where the N-550 road runs alongside it. It connects the city centre with the A Xunqueira area and the O Burgo district.
The Word Bridge is a delta-leg bridge that crosses the Lérez River in the Monte Porreiro district of the city of Pontevedra (Spain). It was inaugurated in 2011 and connects the Monte Porreiro neighbourhood with the civil parish of Lérez.
The Forest Engineering School of Pontevedra is a engineering school of the University of Vigo founded in 1990 in Pontevedra, Spain, and based at the A Xunqueira campus.
