Ciutadella Park Shade House
A shady, tropical forest housed in a charming building in the heart of the park
In Parc de la Ciutadella, there is a trilobed iron building where tropical and subtropical plants grow. The Umbracle, one of the buildings constructed for the 1888 Universal Exhibition, recreates the conditions of shady, humid forests where the planted species thrive.
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128 years preserving tropical plants
The Umbracle was built between 1883 and 1887 by Josep Amargós, based on a project by Josep Fontserè to recover the former military citadel—built by Philip V to control Barcelona—as a public park and scientific and museum space. Of all the planned buildings, only a few were constructed, such as the Martorell Geology Museum, the greenhouse, and the Umbracle, located on the Passeig Picasso side of today’s Parc de la Ciutadella.
Fontserè himself designed a building to protect the plants from the sun and allow the growth of species not native to the Mediterranean. With a structure of cast-iron pillars, curved iron beams, and three roofs with five arches, he created a play of light and shadow that effectively recreates the conditions of tropical and subtropical forests, home to the large trees and plants in the enclosure.
Among the species you can see in the Umbracle are hydrangeas, kentias, gardenias, ficus, caladiums, monstera, arecaceae, wax palms, and winter jasmine. The space is organised with a central parterre, another running along the four walls, and a central corridor with benches to quietly admire the plants.
How to get to the Umbracle of Parc de la Ciutadella?
The Umbracle is located inside Parc de la Ciutadella, at the Red Route stop of the Barcelona Bus Turístic.
For the curious
- The project to recover the former military citadel as a scientific and museum space included life-size reproductions of extinct animals, a project initiated by naturalist Norbert Font i Sagué. It was interrupted by his death, with only one sculpture completed: a mammoth, located near the monumental waterfall, which has become a famous figure in the park.
