Halfway between a forest park and a city garden, the Gardens of Joan Brossa have characteristics of both, especially those typical of a forest. The spontaneous nature appearance of the gardens is more pronounced at the bottom, where these features are intensified due to the dense vegetation. A raised, wood footbridge enters the forest, letting you gaze down upon it as if you were on a balcony.
Both the topography and the pre-existing vegetation in itself comprises a very attractive landscape. Despite the change in altitude, the gardens are easy to access. This is possible thanks to two ramps that connect the main route. Only in some corners, half hidden among the trees, are sections of the stone staircases still present from the former fun fair, with stone benches inlaid into the wall of the slope. At the top area of the former theatre, there is a viewpoint with concrete stands that is easily accessed by a ramp. MAP IT
Connection space
Its location has converted the Gardens of Joan Brossa into a connection point between the different gardens in the Park of Montjuïc. Just above, a bit lower than the castle of Montjuïc, is the Mayor's Viewpoint and the route that crosses through the garden running from east to west allows direct access to the Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer Gardens, beyond which you will find the Garden of Petra Kelly - Viver Tres Pins and the Barcelona Botanical Gardens.
Children's games
The Gardens of Joan Brossa encompass a large part of the lands that were occupied by the former Montjuïc Fun Fair for 32 years. Opened in 1966 it had its apogee during the 1980s, featuring over thirty attractions and an open-air amphitheatre where concerts by the most famous singers and groups of that period were held in the summers. The recreational, childish and leisure nature of the former fun fair continues to flaunt its presence in these gardens.
There are three play areas in which elements have been installed for all ages, some of them very original.
Team fun is represented by a game of sand and water that brings to mind the miners who had 'gold fever'. Located next to the access that connects to the Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer Gardens, you need several kids to play this game: some of them pumping the water and others carting the earth to trays, where the two elements are mixed.
Music is also a very important recreation factor. On the path that crosses the park, there are 'musical cushions' that emit sounds when you step on them. And in one of the play areas for younger children, there are two wood structures: a type of organ and a see-saw / keyboard, which lets them experiment with sounds.
( that's for us, what do you think ? )
Vegetation
The vegetation at the Gardens of Joan Brossa is extremely varied. A large part was planted when the fun fair was constructed. There are little living carpets of perennials and grasses, of very different species, which provide continuity to the routes in the gardens, trees, enormous palms and large masses of bushes.
There are symbolic Mediterranean trees like the olive (Olea europaea), Holm oak (Quercus ilex) and tamarisk (Tamarix gallica) and others with gorgeous ornamental flowers like the mimosa (Acacia dealbata), the pagoda tree (Sophora japonica), magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) and acacias (Robinia pseudoacacia, 'pyramidalis' Robinia pseudoacacia and the 'umbraculifera' Robinia pseudoacacia).
With respect to palm trees, they are represented by large California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera and Washingtonia robusta), windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) and Mediterranean fan palms (Chamaerops humilis).
In this green space, art is also represented through poetry and sculpture. Following the tradition of dedicating the gardens of Montjuïc to Catalan poets -started at the end of the 1970s with the gardens of Joan Maragall, Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer and Mossèn Costa i Llobera- the name of these gardens is a homage to the poet Joan Brossa. At the main entry, in the Plaza Dante, there is a plaque inscribed with his poem Harp Music: 'Ocell: / crec que és millor que obris els ulls/ i fugis de la meva espatllahttp://www.bcn.es/vignette/parcs_i_jardins/en/ Aprofita avui per a creuar extensions marines/ i encendre't d'estrelles.' 'Bird: I think it is better if you open your eyes / and flee from my back / Take advantage of today to cross the seas / and be illuminated by the stars.' Inside the gardens there is a visual poem by this same author.
With regard to sculptures, four have been kept from the former fun fair: The Clown (El Pallasso) by Joaquim Ros i Sabaté (1972), which reproduces the character of Charlie Rivel raising his famous chair; To Carmen Amaya by Josep Cañas (1966), in homage to this Barcelonan Flamenco dancer; Charlot by Núria Tortras (1972), with Charlie Chaplin on a world globe; and To Joaquim Blume by Nicolau Ortiz (1966), where a gymnast does exercises on the rings with the Olympic rings in the background.
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These two buildings, designed by architects Lluís Riudor i Carol and Antoni M. Riera Clavillé and built in 1965, have been maintained out of those that were constructed in the former fun fair, because of their very original designs.
The Damm kiosk, the bar-restaurant by this beer company, quickly became the most popular and symbolic of all the buildings at the fun fair. Built in concrete, it has a circular structure with pillars that support a large roof with a Catalan vault. In the middle of the top part, the stained glass windows have been preserved that were created in 1965 by specialised architect and decorator Joan Miras.
The Parasol building -the Fanta Bar at the fun fair- is also constructed from concrete, with an unusual design in the shape of a parasol. As a decorative element in the present gardens, it has kept its basic structure: a platform comprised of five surface areas that converge at the centre and are supported by a single pillar. In other words, it is an immense parasol that is a godsend on hot summer days.
Integrated into the park, it still maintains its main façade from the network of tunnels and storage chambers of the former Álvarez Castro gunpowder magazine. It is a side wall that is one metre wide and some seven metres high, which became an attraction during the years that the fun fair was operating: the Tunnel of Terror. A little train went in and out of the openings in the façade of the former gunpowder magazine, driving around inside the galleries.
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Next : The Jardins de Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer (4).
Previous : The Mirador de l'Alcalde (2),
Source : Garden web site
