Parque Juárez is a public park in the city of

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

, in the state of

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

in eastern Mexico. It was inaugurated in 1892 and named in honor of

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...

, 20 years after his death. The park is located in central Xalapa with a terrace-like appearance adjoining the Palacio de Gobierno building, across the street from the Palacio Municipal and close to the cathedral. Since the early 16th century, the site had been the location of the Monastery of San Francisco. The central garden of the park features enormous araucaria trees, some of which were brought to México as a present to Porfirio Díaz by the ambassador from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, sometime before the inauguration of the park in 1892. The southern side of the park looks over the valley below, offering scenic views of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains:

Cofre de Perote Cofre de Perote, also known by its Nahuatl names Naupa-Tecutépetl (from ''Nāuhpa-Tēuctēpetl'') and Nauhcampatépetl, both meaning something like "Place of Four Mountains" or "Mountain of the Lord of Four Places", is an inactive volcano loca ...

to the West and snowcapped

Pico de Orizaba Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl = star, and = mountain), is an inactive stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali of Alaska in the United States and Mount ...

to the South. In 1922, the Junta de Obras Materiales de Jalapa, presided by

William K. Boone William Kenneth Boone (1875–1944), a U.S. citizen, was a "distinguished philanthropist and benefactor of the city" of Xalapa, Veracruz. Throughout his life he sent numerous letters, postcards, and photographs to his parents and sisters at home. ...

, proposed, designed and built a

ramp An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

to make it easier for vehicles to reach the center of the city from the (old) train station. In 1930, the ramp del Parque Juárez was renamed Paseo del Ayuntamiento and later Paseo de la Constitución. At about the middle of the ramp, there are four statues that represent the Cardinal Virtues: Fortitude, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance. The first three were set in 1931; the last one in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parque Juarez Xalapa Parks in Mexico Protected areas of Veracruz