El parc de l’Espanya Industrial

Carrer de Muntadas, 1

Parc de l’Espanya Industrial, a park that occupies the site of a former textile factory, is an example of how city land was used in the 1980s to implement quality public infrastructure projects. With its lake with ducks, wide lawns and a 32-metre long dragon sculpture that doubles as a children’s slide, the park is a daily attraction for many of Barcelona’s residents.

A park dedicated to nature

Next to the Sants train station lies one of the city’s most surprising green spaces: Parc de l’Espanya Industrial. Its impressive nine lighthouse towers act as beacons drawingattention to it from far away. The park extends along a terraced area with concrete steps that lead down to a large artificial lake. Here, a prominent statue of Neptune by Manuel Fluxà stands guard over the water, which is one of the four elements that inspired the park, along with earth, fire and air. An enormous dragon by the Basque sculptor Andrés Nagel watches over the area and tempts children and adults to climb onto its back for an enjoyable way to take in the surroundings. Beyond the lake, willows, oaks, plane trees and cypresses make the park a bucolic landscape that is ideal for reading, picnicking or just relaxing.

Building on the past

Designed by architects Luis Peña Ganchegui, Antón Pagola and Montserrat Ruiz in 1985,the park is a modern space that stands on land that used to belong to the country’s leading cotton company, l’Espanya Industrial, which gives the park its name. The factory that stood there from the middle of the nineteenth century (commonly known as El Vapor Nou) was extremely important for the neighbourhood, as it provided work for 2,500 people in 1880 and remained operational until 1972. Some of the old factory facilities are now used for social purposes, such as the Casa del Mig youth information centre.