PARQUE DE MARÍA LUISA
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The story of the park begins with the Palacio de San Telmo. In 1849, the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier acquired the palace and transformed it into their Sevillian residence.
To accompany the palace, they created extensive private gardens on surrounding land. The French gardener André Lecolant designed a romantic landscape inspired principally by the English garden tradition while also incorporating formal and exotic elements.
1849
The Dukes of Montpensier acquired Palacio de San Telmo and began developing the extensive gardens that would eventually form the basis of Parque de María Luisa.
1893
Infanta María Luisa Fernanda de Borbón donated a large part of the San Telmo gardens to the city of Seville.
The donation took place in May 1893. In gratitude, the city named the future public park after the Infanta, whose full name was María Luisa Fernanda de Borbón.
The decisive transformation began when Seville chose the park and its surrounding land as the principal setting for the future Hispano-American, later Ibero-American, Exposition.
Architect Aníbal González was responsible for the general architectural planning, while the redesign of the gardens was entrusted to the internationally renowned French landscape designer Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier.
1911
Forestier presented his plans for the transformation of the park, preserving important elements of Lecolant's earlier garden.
1914
The redesigned Parque de María Luisa officially opened to the public on April 18, 1914.
Forestier did not simply replace the existing gardens. He incorporated many of their established trees and romantic spaces while introducing a new network of avenues, fountains, ponds and intimate landscaped areas.
His design combined French landscape principles with inspiration from Andalusian and Hispano-Islamic gardens. Water, ceramic decoration, shade and enclosed spaces became fundamental elements of the park's character.
María Luisa is best discovered slowly. Beyond its main avenues, dozens of smaller paths lead to fountains, ponds, monuments, ceramic benches and landscaped glorietas.
Glorieta de Bécquer
One of the park's best-known monuments, dedicated to Sevillian Romantic poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and surrounded by vegetation that reinforces its intimate atmosphere.
Isleta de los Patos
The picturesque duck pond preserves elements from the former gardens of San Telmo and remains one of the park's most recognizable romantic spaces.
Fuente de las Ranas
One of Forestier's most characteristic decorative fountains, combining water with the colourful ceramic tradition associated with early 20th-century Seville.
Monte Gurugú
A small artificial hill inherited from the older palace gardens, offering one of the park's most unusual landscape features.
The park also contains an extraordinary collection of mature trees and palms. Orange trees, plane trees, date palms, magnolias, ficus and many other species create dense areas of shade that make María Luisa particularly valuable during Seville's warmer months.
Parque de María Luisa became one of the principal settings of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, an event that permanently transformed this part of Seville.
Two monumental spaces created for the Exposition now define the visitor experience: Plaza de España and Plaza de América.
Plaza de España
Designed by Aníbal González, this monumental semicircular complex became the architectural symbol of the 1929 Exposition and today is one of Seville's best-known landmarks.
Plaza de América
Another major ensemble by Aníbal González, surrounded by the Mudéjar Pavilion, the Royal Pavilion and the former Fine Arts Pavilion.
Plaza de América is also home to the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares and the Museo Arqueológico de Sevilla.
More than a century after Forestier's transformation, María Luisa remains one of Seville's most important public spaces and continues to require constant conservation.
In 2026, the City of Seville has been carrying out a broad programme to recover parts of the historic landscape according to the original plans of Forestier and Lecolant, including the planting of hundreds of new trees and thousands of shrubs.
Why Visit Parque de María Luisa?
María Luisa combines several different sides of Seville within a single landscape: the romantic gardens of the 19th century, Forestier's early 20th-century design and the monumental architecture created for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.
Whether you come to walk beneath the trees, discover its hidden fountains and glorietas, visit Plaza de España or simply escape the busy historic centre for a while, it remains one of the most enjoyable free spaces in Seville.
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