The ''Alameda del arquitecto Sesmero'' (translated as ''

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

of architect Sesmero''), popularly known as ''la Alameda'' by the Pontevedrians, is an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

located in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is the largest

urban green space In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces." These include plant life, water features also known as blue spaces and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces a ...

in the centre of Pontevedra city, together with the Palm Trees Park. The Alameda is located to the west of the

old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

, close to the old fishermen's quarter of A Moureira.

History

The Alameda de

took its present configuration at the end of the 19th century as part of an ambitious project to extend the city to land outside the old walls of Pontevedra. Before the development of this urban space as the Alameda, it was known as the ''Field of Truth'' (place of execution of convicted persons) and the ''Field of Wheels''. It was here that ropes and

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigg ...

were made for fishing. After the construction of the convent of St. Dominic and because of its influence, it became known as the ''Field of St. Dominic''. In 1648 the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

transformed the orchard of their convent into a place for walking. Two centuries later, in 1846, a

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

was built, the ground was levelled, trees were planted and the first stone benches were put in place. In 1847, part of this field corresponding to the present-day Alameda was closed off with stone walls. The Alameda had five wide alleys delimited by trees in a straight line and a spacious promenade. There were 57 oaks and 91 acacias and views over the Pontevedra ria and the sea. The most elegant residents of the city used to stroll along it, especially on summer evenings, to breathe in the sea breeze. It was with the urban expansion of the late 19th century, which made the architect Alejandro Sesmero effective, that the process of shaping this emblematic area was completed. Sesmero designed a project for the Alameda de Pontevedra as part of the city's bourgeois expansion and officially presented it on 29 April 1879. In its early years, the Alameda was divided longitudinally into several parallel promenades, which, within a

class society A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wea ...

, were reserved for the use of each social category. The promenade closest to the present Gran Vía de Montero Ríos was reserved for nannies and maids, the adjacent promenade for the middle class or artisans and the two remaining promenades next to the present café ''El Cafetín'' were reserved for the bourgeois and noble classes. In 1886 the architect Alejandro Sesmero was commissioned to design and budget the

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...

, as part of the urbanisation of the Alameda and Gran Vía. At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1904, the

was inaugurated to host concerts by musicians or artists when the municipal band was created. The bandstand has a stone base and an iron and glass roof and in 1907 it was equipped with electric lights. Later, in 1927, the City Council commissioned the municipal architect, Emilio Salado, to draw up a project to embellish the western part of the Alameda with a privileged view of the sea. Salado carried out a project clearly influenced by

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

and in 1928 a magnificent stone staircase was inaugurated, decorated with two large pillars six metres high, finished with

effigies An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

of stone lions supporting the city's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. In the 1950s, these pillars were greatly reduced to the height of the balustrade. The stone lions that crowned them were replaced by ciboria in the form of flower pots. In 2010, the pillars and lions were returned to their original position and design. The current ''El Cafetín'', located on the north side of the Alameda, is reminiscent of an old café from the beginning of the 20th century, which was in fact just a small

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...

offering drinks and other related products. In 1987, ''El Cafetín'' was opened with its current aesthetic.

Description

The Alameda has an oblong or oval surface that runs from the vicinity of the

Pontevedra City Hall The Pontevedra City Hall in Pontevedra, Spain, is the seat of the city council of this Galician city. It is located at the eastern end of the Alameda de Pontevedra, on the edge of the old town. To the west it opens onto the pedestrian España ...

in the Plaza de España in the direction of San Roque ( former Moureiras). Lines of trees divide it longitudinally into several parallel promenades. Together with the Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, it has an area of 21,000 m2. The western side of the Alameda is bounded by a viewpoint that ends in a stone staircase. This staircase is flanked by two six-metre high columns on which are placed the effigies of two stone lions bearing the city's

. On the circular walls that delimit this southern part there are mosaics of

Tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wal ...

s made by Carlos Sobrino. On the Alameda side of the Gran Via de Montero Ríos is the

. Carlos Sobrino created twenty-three tiles for the Alameda de

with different landscapes and scenes, both rural and urban, painted in 1927 and made in Seville. These mosaics have been completely restored as part of the renovation work that was carried out in the park's surroundings in 2010. Pontevedra-Alameda-Esmaltes_de_Carlos_Sobrino_1

Pontevedra-Alameda-Esmaltes_de_Carlos_Sobrino_1

The scenes illustrate traditional customs and architecture: people in typical costumes, the

Hórreo An ''hórreo'' is a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Asturias, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, where it might be called a Galician granary, and Northern Portugal), built in wood or stone, raised from the ground (to keep ro ...

s of Combarro, the chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Lanzada or the

Plaza de la Leña The Plaza de la Leña ( Galician: ''Praza da Leña''; Firewood Square) is a picturesque medieval square located in the heart of the old town of Pontevedra (Spain). It is the most typical medieval square in the historic centre and in Galicia. ...

in the

, among others. The Alameda is bounded on its eastern side by the monument to the heroes of Puente Sampayo, designed by Julio González-Pola y García in 1911 to mark the first centenary of the Battle of Puente Sampayo against the French. The Alameda remains true to its original 19th century design and layout. It retains the earthen floor with paths delimited by five rows of trees, mainly

poplars ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...

, black poplars,

plane trees ''Platanus'' ( ) is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. The type ...

, lime-trees,

Alder Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s, and two

common hawthorn ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, whitethorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It grows to about tall, producing hermaphrodite flowers in late spring. Th ...

, stone benches and an octagonal

. The eastern entrance is presided over by an

araucaria heterophylla ''Araucaria heterophylla'' (synonym ''A. excelsa'') is a species of conifer. As its vernacular name Norfolk Island pine (or Norfolk pine) implies, the tree is endemic to Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific ...

, a tree about 30 metres high, the largest in the alameda. It is separated from the paved boulevard called Gran Vía de Montero Ríos by sections of stone stairs.

Gallery

File:HomenaxePontesampaio.jpg, Monument to the heroes of Puente Sampayo File:Alameda - panoramio (2).jpg File:Pontevedra - Alameda del Arquitecto Sesmeros 3.jpg File:Alameda Sesmeros-Por la tarde (15369388853).jpg File:Pontevedra - Alameda del Arquitecto Sesmeros 2.jpg File:Pontevedra-Alameda-Balaustrada e esmaltes.jpg File:Pontevedra - Alameda del Arquitecto Sesmeros 4.jpg File:Alameda de Pontevedra.jpg File:Alameda de Pontevedra - panoramio.jpg File:Pontevedra, Alameda.jpg File:Pontevedra capital Calle Alameda.jpg File:Pontevedra-Escaleras de la Alameda (6312825381).jpg File:Pontevedra-Alameda (4007744529).jpg File:Pontevedra-Ultimos rayos del día en la Alameda (11551710895).jpg File:Pontevedra-Palacete de música (4007744697).jpg

History

Description

Gallery

References

See also

Bibliography

Related articles

External links