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Tarragona Parc de la Ciutat | Quinta de Sant Rafael

12.9 acre park in lower Tarragona that was previously the estate of the 1912 historic Quinta de Sant Rafael house. Roman ruins & many species of trees within

Updated: Apr 8, 2024 by: Barcelona Travel Hacks Views: 55

About Tarragona Parc de la Ciutat & Quinta de Sant Rafael

Tarragona's Parc de la Ciutat is a 12.9 acre green park in the lower part of the city and has a childrens play area, picnic areas, benches, tree shade, some Roman ruins and a bandstand. It is a family friendly park.

Within the park is the Quinta de Sant Rafael modernist style building. It is the 1912 work of architect Juli Maria Fossas i Martínez and was constructed on the commssion of Marià Puig i Valls to serve as a private reidence for her brother Rafael. The building consists of a total of 366 squre metres distributed over tow floors with an oxagonal tower and well in the garden.

After 20 years of neglect, several fires, in 2008 the Tarragona city council decided to restore it, with the intention of the building hosting a nature interpretation center. However this has yet to happen. Today the building still stands derelict.

The grounds of the original estate had housed a park made up of a large number of species of trees and shrubs, identified with pedagogical intent, and sculptures from the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 (these, due to the link of Rafael Valls with the event). Although part of the land has been built on later, the rest is part of the Tarragona Parc de la Ciutat.