Barcelona

The square was officially opened for public enjoyment in 1983, when democracy had been fully restored. It represents a local residents’ victory, a demand that is now a living, active reality in the form of a landscaped, neighbourhood square. The municipal architects A. Arriola, J.L. Delgado, J.M. Julià and C. Ribas answered the local residents’ needs and turned 22,000 m2 of space acquired by the City Council into a large square, with 15,413 m2 allocated to green space and the rest to paths, a civic square, and various facilities and services located in the lower part to make the most of the space created by the existing terrain between C/ Escultor Ordoñez and C/ Estudiant.

As you make your way along the paths, skirting the parterres, you gradually discover the park. Its trees are divided into areas consisting predominantly of perennials, basically holm oaks (Quercus ilex) and cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens), as well as a deciduous area, made up of hackberry trees (Celtis australis) lined up in a central part of the square with numerous benches.
The paths that take you through the park are framed by rows of poplars (Populus alba pyramidalis). These paths will accompany you between more poplars, hackberry trees and holm oaks, through the various terraced spaces, up a gentle slope. The difference in height has been exploited to create a waterfall that ends in a semi-circular expanse of water. Fountain and waterfall separate the green from the hard part of the square. The sheet of water ends with a small bay of river rocks that re-create a small beach.
Chinese weeping willows (Salix babylonica) and peppercorn trees (Schinus molle), also known as false pepper trees, grow close to these bays, on either side of the lake.
Higher up, in the middle of the lake, there are more poplars, flanked by holm oaks. There are also four Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis) in a corner of the square. The entire perimeter is surrounded by a double row of plane trees (Platanus x hispanica).

Plaça de Sóller enjoys the privilege of having one of the first displays of contemporary street art located in an outlying neighbourhood. Oriol Bohigas, the then councillor for urban planning, commissioned Xavier Corberó as part of a plan to bring monuments to the outskirts. The sculptor created a sculptural ensemble for the square (Barcelona’s biggest when it was built) consisting of 41 slender, rounded sheets (5 mm to 8 mm thick) of Portuguese pink marble, Almeria white marble and Iranian onyx. Fragile, luxurious materials that bring to mind a boat, some clouds, the sun and the moon. It is a recreation of the Balearic Islands and of the historical relations maintained with the neighbourhood, which explains why the sculptor called it Homenatge a la Mediterrània (Homage to the Mediterranean).
The sculpture’s flat, stony surfaces are extraordinarily fragile and so slim that light passes through them. That means the veins of the marble and the onyx are reflected on the surface of the water, incorporating it into the surroundings as a dynamic and moving feature of the sculpture.