This panorama shows the planted gardens of the Plaça des Armes in the middle of the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona. The Parliament building is just to the east of these gardens. You can just make out the pond and the famous El Desconsol statue reclining in the middle through the gap in the hedges being photographed by a tourist.

Placa de les Armes - Barcelona visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Placa de les Armes' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Catalonia.

The Plaça de les Armes is in the middle of the Parc de la Ciutadella. This used to be near the old armory of the citadel that was built to control Barcelona in the 1700's after the city was captured by Philip of Spain. The gardens here were designed by J.C.Forestier in 1917. In the middle is an oval pond which contains one of the most striking sculptures of Catalan Modernism. The statue, called El Desconsol (Grief), was made by Josep Llimona in 1903.

Just to the east is the Catalan Parliament building, which also houses a small art museum. There are numerous statues and monuments scattered around the park, many of which were made for the Universal Exhibition of 1888. These include the Cascada Fountain, the Umbracle shade house and the Arc de Triomf/ To the south of the Plaça des Armes is the Barcelona Zoo.

Travel and Getting There:
Metro: Arc de Triomf metro station. The Parc de la Ciutadella is also very close to the Estacio Terme o de Franca railway station.