GARDENS AT PASEO DEL SALÓN AND PASEO DE LA BOMBA

The Genil river has suffered many works and variations in the last centuries. In 1497, the City Council ordered its cleaning and forbad the throwing of rubbish and rubble in it. On the right bank of the river we can see the Paseo de la Bomba and the Paseo del Salón, which were a single “paseo” (boulevard) until the 19th century. Before 1612 some poplars were introduced on the left bank. They are seen on the map by Ambrosio de Vico; in 1751, on the right bank other poplars were planted and other more on the same bank in 1792. This all can be seen on the map of 1796 by Dalmau.
During the French invasion (1810-1812) the boulevards were reformed and a botanical garden was created and later destroyed after the Spanish victory in the Peninsular War. Between 1814-1820 recovering and restoration works were undertaken. This new paseo can be observed on the map of 1831 by Dalmau. On the Topographic Map of the city of Granada made by José Contreras in 1853 we can see little regular gardens with geometrical shapes and rectangular “par-terres”. In 1881 the plans were to channel the river and make the gardens larger. In 1891 the gardens are restored and de “Fuente de la Bomba” (“Fountain of La Bomba”) is moved to the littel gardens and two more fountains are made: “Fuente del laberinto” (“Fountain of the Labyrinth”) and “Fuente de la reina” (“Fountain of the Queen”).
In 1908, the “Puente de las brujas” (“Bridge of the Witches”) is built connecting the gardens with the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús school. On the Map of Granada made by the Geographic and Statistic Institute (1909) we can see the gardens with curved lines and par-terres. In 1917, the City Library was moved here. Its building was first designed to host a dancing hall and was made by Ángel Casas. Later, a monument dedicated to the Duke of San Pedro de Galatino was here added made by sculptor José Navas Parejo (1923). Also a bust of Francisco de Paula Valladar (by J. Palma) was here added in 1924. In the 40s, the front with lions which shows the coat-of-arms of Granada is here built.
The gardens have an extension of 87,026 sq. ft. (8,085 m2) in a longitudinal shape paralel to the curse of the river with par-terres with hedges of box or privet. The stop areas account up to eleven arbours. To go through the gardens there are several straight paths that get together and away with a boulevard in the middle being a little bit wider than the other paths.  The area of the “Titas” is the most interesting, containing the most important monuments and fountains.
The gardens have an exit way to the bridge of Sebastiani (1810-1811) imitating the bridge of Neuilly. It has a single segmental arch. Stone from the tower of the Monastery of San Jerónimo was used for its building. It was made wider in 1984 for traffic purposes.
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