Parque de María Luisa, Seville

María Luisa Park is Seville’s principal public green space, extending beside the Guadalquivir River. Its grounds began as private gardens belonging to the Palace of San Telmo, until the Infanta Luisa Fernanda gave much of them to the city in 1893 for public use. The garden you see today took shape through the work of Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, who redesigned it from 1911, while Aníbal González later directed buildings for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

Look toward the tiled fountains and ponds: water, shaded paths, pavilions, walls, benches, and vine-covered bowers form a sequence of intimate garden spaces. The park also functions as a botanical garden, bringing together local and introduced plant species with educational panels. Its ponds and fountains are inhabited by ducks and swans, while doves gather around Plaza de América and parakeets live among the park’s trees.

At the park’s edge, Plaza de España curves around a monumental open space, with tiled alcoves devoted to Spain’s provinces. The Fountain of the Lions is another signature feature: four stone lions carry shields and send water into an octagonal basin. The lions were installed in 1928, replaced by copies in 1957 after vandalism, and restored in 1992.