Parc de la Ciutadella (Citadel Park)

Parc de la Ciutadella (Citadel Park) Review

Once a fortress designed to consolidate Madrid's military occupation of Barcelona, the Ciutadella is now the city's main downtown park. The clearing dates from shortly after the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, when Felipe V demolished some 1,000 houses in what was then the Barri de la Ribera to build a fortress and barracks for his soldiers and a glacis or open space used a buffer zone or no-man's-land to put space between rebellious Barcelona and his artillery positions. The fortress walls were pulled down in 1868 and replaced by gardens laid out by Josep Fontseré. Within the park are a cluster of museums, the Catalan parliament, and the city zoo.