Parque Juárez is a public

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in the city of

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexico, Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In 2020 census the city reported a population of 443,063 ...

, 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, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

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 politician, military commander, and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. A Zapotec peoples, Zapotec, he w ...

, 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 ''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. While today they are largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous they were glo ...

trees, some of which were brought to México as a present to

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

by the ambassador from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, 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 The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that ...

mountains: Cofre de Perote to the West and snowcapped

Pico de Orizaba Citlaltépetl (from Nahuan languages, Náhuatl = star, and = mountain), otherwise known as Pico de Orizaba, is an active volcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and Table of the highest major summits of North America, third highest in North Ame ...

to the South. In 1922, the Junta de Obras Materiales de Jalapa, presided by William K. Boone, proposed, designed and built a ramp 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