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Garden of the Prince

Aranjuez, Las Vegas, Madrid

1 Villages · 6 Monuments · 3 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 3 Historical milestones · 2 Food and drink

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Garden of the Prince

Nature · Aranjuez, Las Vegas, Madrid

A landscape garden of some 145 hectares and three kilometres long, begun in 1772 for the future Charles IV on the banks of the Tagus; Pablo Boutelou directed its layout between 1775 and 1784, and Juan de Villanueva later worked on it too, alongside Boutelou until 1808. The garden brought together under the new landscape style earlier works, such as the vegetable gardens laid out between 1553 and 1561 under Philip II or the landing stage built under Ferdinand VI. It is entered through fifteen gates from the calle de la Reina, among which the gate of the Embarcadero stands out, attributed to Villanueva, with granite Ionic columns that once flanked two statues now in the Museo del Prado. It has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1931 and a World Heritage Site since 2001, within the Cultural Landscape of Aranjuez.

Photo: isol (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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