Barcelona

It was created by Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí in 1930, just after the Barcelona International Exposition of 1929, on land that had been occupied by the Italian and Swiss pavilions.

A large part of the first plantings consisted of specimens of species from the five continents that adorned the exposition grounds and which Rubió continued to add new specimens to until 1937.

Once the Second World War had ended in 1945, Lluís Riudor, the manager of Barcelona’s public green spaces, and Joan Panyella, the professional botanist and lecturer at the city’s School of Gardening, started planting again and this continued right up to the end of the 1980s. During this period specimens grown from Índex Seminum (Barcelona) seeds were also planted in the garden.

Especially notable are a golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata), a large jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) and a white siris (Albizia Procera), which is listed in the Barcelona Trees of Local Interest Catalogue.

Unique or extremely rare specimens found in Barcelona include a saffron tree (Elaeodendron croceum); a willow myrtle (Agonis flexuosa), also known as Western Australian peppermint owing to its scent; a picconia excelsa (Elaeodendron capense); a cockspur coral tree
(Erythrina crista-galli); a vachellia caven (Acacia caven); a Japanese wax tree
(Toxicodendron succedaneum); a Dot’s pagoda tree
(Styphnolobium japonicum), named by Joan Panyella in 1947 after the great Catalan gardener Simó Dot; a weeping pittosporum
(Pittosporum angustifolium) and a Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa).

The garden also boasts eucalyptus species, such as Eucalyptus gomphocephala, and exotic conifers, such as Turkish or Cyprus pine (Pinus brutia). As for climbing plants, the giant Burmese honeysuckle (Lonicera hildebrandiana), Coulter’s Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) and a large Pereskia aculeata specimen are especially noteworthy.

It was officially opened in 2003 and designed by the professional gardener, Lluís Abad. The memorial was a proposal received by the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens from the NGO Associació Projecte dels Noms, which had been set up in 1993 to raise public awareness of AIDS. It is an olive tree, the symbol of peace and eternity, which stands in a flower bed with elongated paving stones inside, on which a poem by Miquel Martí i Pol has been engraved.

Rows of stone columns rise up on the well-shaded upper level, part of the pergolas built for the climbing-plant species and still used for supporting them.

There are gravel paths between the parterres, interspersed with the occasional resting bench. Most of the specimens, especially the trees, are identified by a sign that states their scientific name, their common name in Catalan (if they have one) and the area the species originates from.