Jardines de las Delicias

"Two assistants (positions equivalent to that of mayor today), called Don José de Ávalos and Don José Manuel de Arjona, felt a special fondness for these places, embellishing them with well-kept gardens. The first of them is responsible for some landscaping of these places, next to the Guadalquivir, surrounded by orchards and houses of pleasure. Around here was the estate known as “Bellaflor”, where Philip II would stay on his visit to the city. The Bellaflor (or Bella Flor) path became a pleasant walk in the second half of the 18th century, started by another assistant: Don Pablo de Olavide and continued precisely by Ávalos. Don José Manuel de Arjona would complete the work of Ávalos, extending the walk that would have its beginnings next to the old College of San Telmo (today the headquarters of the Presidency of the Junta de Andalucía) to end in the surroundings of the Eritaña inn, approximately where the Glorieta de México is today. These operations would also involve the layout of the so-called Salón de Cristina, at the other end of the new promenade, gardens known today as the Jardines de Cristina. Laid out under the direction of Claudio Boutelou, they were named Jardines de las Delicias with the popular nickname of the “Delicias de Arjona” in reference to the Assistant, starting in 1826 and being fully completed in 1829. The primitive gardens before Arjona would be known as the “Old Delicacies”. The chronicles of the time make full reference to numerous plants of American origin brought to be planted in these new gardens. Since its inauguration it has undergone various reforms that in most cases have meant a reduction of the initial surface area. Thus, due to the works carried out for the execution of the Corta de Tablada, it lost ground in its southern part. The garden was also part of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, as the pavilions of Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Morocco and Guinea were built around it, serving as a natural walkway to access these buildings. Romantic in nature, the garden naturally combines landscaped areas - the result of the extension towards the old Santiago Montoto Avenue, when the flowerpot and the old stove that had been moved from San Telmo disappeared - with quiet spaces that run through roundabouts inviting you to walk, read or rest. These roundabouts have sculptures with mythological allusions, some of which were in the Museum square, or fountains. Worthy of note is the set of pedestals and busts that surround the Kiosco de El Líbano, which came from the summer palace of the Sevillian archbishops in Umbrete and were moved here in 1864. There is also the bust of the painter Sorolla, which was placed here in 1924 at the request of the Athenaeum. The entire set is framed by a plant environment that contains more than a hundred different species."