Plaza de 25 de Julio
The Plaza de 25 de Julio is a round square with an area of about 1300 m 2 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife . The name refers to the attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797) by the British Navy. The square is commonly known as "Plaza de los Patos" (Duck Square).
location
The square is located at the intersection of Avenida 25 de Julio and Calle Viera y Clavijo. Calle Costa y Grijalba and Calle General O'Donell also lead to the square. It forms the center of the listed Barrio de Los Hoteles district . In the immediate vicinity are the Parque García Sanabria , the Plaza Weyler, the town hall, the Church of San Jorge and the Rambla de Santa Cruz.
history
At the intersection in the middle of Avenida 25 de Julio, no space was originally planned. In 1901, the then mayor of the city, Pedro Schwartz, suggested that a monument be erected at the intersection for General Leopoldo O'Donnell , the former Prime Minister of Spain from Santa Cruz de Tenerife . A committee was set up in Madrid and one in Santa Cruz de Tenerife to raise funds for an equestrian monument designed by Agustín Querol. When in 1906 King Alfonso XIII. Visited Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he laid the foundation stone for the monument. - In the following period the square was known as “La Piedra del Rey” (The King's Stone). Since the donations were insufficient for the erection of the equestrian monument, the square remained empty. In 1909 a small fountain was erected. When the square was redesigned in 1913, a small, irregularly shaped pond with a diameter of about ten meters was created, in the middle of which water ran down from a rock. Ducks occasionally swam in the pond. This resulted in the name "Plaza de los Patos", which is still used today. In 1917, beds were created and trees were planted. The "Junta de Fomento de Turismo" (Association for the Promotion of Tourism) financed these measures.
The Exposición Iberoamericana in Seville 1929-1930 led to new impulses for urban design in Santa Cruz. A citizens' initiative campaigned to change the square al modo sevillano (in the Sevillian way) with a copy of the Fuente de las Ranas from the Parque de María Luisa in Seville as well as the border of the flower beds and the decoration of the 26 benches with glazed ceramic tiles . The necessary funds were raised through donations from neighbors and through fair, theater and cinema events. The benches were financed by various companies, whose advertising was shown as azulejos on the backrests. The age and poor maintenance of the facility made it necessary to carry out a major renovation in the late 1960s. An attempt was made to restore the original condition as accurately as possible with tiles made in Seville based on pictures and samples. In 2018 the square was renovated again.
Appearance of the place since 1969
The square consists of a circular lane with six junctions. The center island is ring-shaped with plant beds that are about 30 cm higher than the level of the square. There is an entrance to the center of the square at every road junction. The edges of the beds are covered with tiles with different colors. The planting consists of Indian laurel , various palm trees and changing flowers. The inner square and the entrances are covered with red and white stone slabs like a chessboard. The place has a slight slope. In the entrances and on the inside of the plant beds are the completely tiled benches. The edge and the bottom of the well basin are also covered with tiles. Eight water-spouting frogs made of green glazed ceramic material sit on the edge. In the middle of the pool there is a sculpture of a turtle on the back of which is a webbed bird spouting water. Whether this bird is a goose or a duck is controversial.
Individual evidence
- ^ Alberto Darias Principe: Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Ciudad, Arquitectura y Memoria Histórica 1500–1981 . Tomo I. Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2004, ISBN 84-89350-92-2 , p. 548 (Spanish).
- ↑ Manuel Hernández González: Tenerife, Patrimonio Histórico y Cultural . Editorial Rueda, Madrid 2002, ISBN 84-7207-134-0 , p. 35 (Spanish).
- ↑ José Manuel Ledesma Alonso: Reinauguración de la plaza 25 de Julio, conocida como plaza de Los Patos. La Opinión de Tenerife, SL, July 21, 2018, accessed February 14, 2019 (Spanish).
Web links
Coordinates: 28 ° 28 ′ 14.1 ″ N , 16 ° 15 ′ 20.9 ″ W.