Plaza de España Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Plaza de España was built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition. It is located in the northern portion of the Parque de Maria Luisa. The architect was a local talent, Anibal González. His design draws heavily on Mudéjar and Renaissance styles. The building now houses government offices but the grounds are open to visitors.

One of the most interesting features is a series of many ceramic tile pictures, each a few meters across, that located in alcoves along the base of the building's colonnade at the outer edge of the wide walking path. These each display information about a different region in Spain. In each alcove on the ground is a tile map showing where the region is in the country. On the back wall of the alcove is a tile rendition of some important characteristic of that region.

The grounds are lovely. Some repair work is in progress and when we visited the moat in the center of the picture was dry, but the fountains in the very center of the plaza were operating.

akm, BWJ has marked this note useful

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akm (640) 2009-06-30 15:59

Hello William,
This is an excellent capture of a sweeping, complex architectural space. The huge space is wonderfully defined and, despite the dry moat, attractive. The two figures on the lower right provide a perfect counterbalance to the more detailed inner circle, allowing you to show more of the surrounding buildings. Very well done.
Thanks also for your very informative note. I often wonder why San Francisco didn't keep (or build to keep)more of its Pan Pacific World's Fair buildings.
Best regards,
Mary

BWJ (1771) 2009-07-02 5:26

Hello William,
What a spectacular view of Plaza de España! You captured so much of it. The composition is very pleasantly balanced and details of the tiles and architecture are excellent. It is nice to see people in the scene for a sense of proportion. Thanks for sharing and for a good note as well.
Kind regards,
Betty