Stroll around the Artigas gardens of La Pobla de Lillet and invariably you will be reminded of
Park Güell in Barcelona. This is because they are the work of the same mind:
Antoni Gaudí.
In 1905, the modernista architect who, having stayed for a few days at the home of the textile industrial Joan Artigas i Alart, wanted to thank him for his hospitality by designing a naturalistic garden for an area (known as the Font de la Magnèsia) which was next to his factory, on the banks of the river Llobregat. Thus, it is as though it copied – on a small scale – the
fundamentals of Park Güell, where he was working at that time. In this case, however, it is not an urban garden. Gone, therefore, are the great open spaces and colourful ceramic tile shards or
trencadis. Everything is made largely with
rocky stone and mortar, taking advantage of the vegetation of the area. It is as though the park had pushed its way between nature.
Along the route the visitor will find a waterfall; an artificial cave with catenary arches from where the Font de la Magnèsia gushes forth; fountains; two stone bridges; a square; and, at the highest point, the Glorieta or gazebo, which acts as a lookout point.
Gaudí's universe is present in every detail of the complex. Jardinières, handrails, benches ... Everything imitates the forms of a
fanciful nature. Nor does it lack Christian references: thus there are the sculptures of the eagle, the lion and the bull, distributed around the complex, together with an angel that has now gone, which are the
symbols of the four evangelists and are arranged in the shape of a cross on the plan of the garden.