ABSTRACT
Designed in its current form by French landscape architect Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier (1861–1930), the Parque de María Luisa was converted in the early twentieth century from private royal park to public park. It was named for Princess María Luisa de Borbón y Borbón (1832–97), Duchess of Montpensier and sister of Queen Isabella II (1830–1904 – reigned 1843–68), who released the land in 1893. The park remains the enchanting product of skilful conversion of the already well-wooded site into, first, the centre piece of an international exposition and then a public park. Forestier achieved this transition through adherence to two fundamental principles – respect for existing site qualities and respect for nuances of regional design, history and climate. The outcome was an essay in Moorish-inspired landscape design for a Mediterranean public park. Its strong rectilinear layout is punctuated with tile-studded glorietas – arbours dedicated to local cultural figures, shaded from the intensity of the Andalusian sun by a canopy of deciduous trees. To the south and east the subtle intimacy of Forestier’s landscape design gives way to the regionalist extravagance of architect Aníbal Gonzaléz’s designs for the Plaza de España and the Plaza de América. These two exhibition spaces were formed as extensions to the park so that it might host the Ibero-American Exposition in 1929. Forestier’s original design, prepared in 1911, was intended for an exposition to be staged in 1914 but postponed because of World War I. 1
