L'Umbracle (), part of the ''

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències The City of Arts and Sciences (, ) is a cultural and architectural complex in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is the most important modern tourist destination in the city of Valencia and one of the 12 Treasures of Spain. The City of Arts and Sc ...

'' (City of Arts and Sciences) complex in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

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 ...

, is a

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...

and landscaped walk with plant species indigenous to Valencia (such as

rockrose Rock rose, rock-rose, and rockrose are common names of various plants, including: * Cistaceae * ''Cistus'' * ''Halimium'' * ''Helianthemum'' * ''Pavonia lasiopetala'' * ''Phemeranthus ''Phemeranthus'' (fameflower) is a genus of flowering plants ...

, '' lentisca'',

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. It is a member of the sage family, Lamiaceae. The species is native to the Mediterranean r ...

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or Vine#Twining vines, twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae. The genus includes 158 species native to northern latitudes in North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. Widely kno ...

bougainvillea ''Bougainvillea'' ( , ) is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the family, Nyctaginaceae. They are native to Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Argentina. There are between 4 and 22 species in the genus. The i ...

and

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

s). It harbors in its interior ''The Walk of the Sculptures'', an outdoor art gallery with sculptures from contemporary artists (Miquel of Navarre, Francesc Abbot,

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

and others). The Umbracle is a space that is a home to numerous sculptures surrounded by nature. It was designed by

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spaniards, Spanish-Swiss people, Swiss architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stad ...

as an entrance along the southwestern edge to the City of Arts and Sciences and as a cover over its car park. L'Umbracle was completed in 2001.

Overview

It is long and wide, located on the southern side of the complex. It has 55 fixed arches and 54 floating arches that stand high. The

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

es are parabolic. The plants in the garden were carefully picked to change colour with the seasons. The garden consists of 99 palm trees, 78 small palm trees, and 62 bitter orange trees. There are 42 varieties of shrubs from the Region of Valencia including

cistus ''Cistus'' (from the Greek ''kistos'') is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species (Ellul ''et al.'' 2002). They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean reg ...

es, mastics,

buddleia ''Buddleja'' (; ''Buddleia''; also historically given as ''Buddlea'') is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemicity, endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus posthu ...

pampas grass Pampas grass or pampas-grass or Pap's grass is a common name which may refer to any of several similar-looking, tall-growing species of grass: * Species of ''Cortaderia'' including: :* ''Cortaderia selloana'' and its selected cultivars :* '' Cort ...

, and

plumbago ''Plumbago'' is a genus of 23 species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. Common names include plumbago and leadwort (names which are also shared by the genus '' Ceratostig ...

s. Honeysuckle and hanging bougainvillea are two of the 450 climbing plants in the Umbracle. It also has 5,500 ground cover plants such as lotus, Spanish flags, and fig-marigolds. There are over a hundred aromatic plants including

and

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of perennial flowering plants in the sage family, Lamiaceae. It is native plant, native to the Old World, primarily found across the drier, warmer regions of the Mediterranean ...

References

External links

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umbracle Buildings and structures in Valencia High-tech architecture Postmodern architecture Santiago Calatrava structures Tourist attractions in Valencia Gardens in Spain Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in Europe