Mossen Costa i Llobera Gardens, Barcelona

Mossèn Costa i Llobera is a curious botanical garden in the center of Barcelona. It is situated at the foot of Montjuïc facing the sea. The park owes its name to the renowned Mallorcan poet Miquel Costa i Llobera. Despite of the gardens taking up around 6 hectares of the Montjuïc hillside, they are some of the least known and visited gardens in the city.The gardens display all kinds of plant and tree species from the desert, subdesert, tropical areas, and highlands. Worth mentioning is the huge collection of cacti (about 800 different types) originating in many different continents and countries.As well as the great collection of species of cacti and succulent plants, the gardens offer stunning panoramic views over the city's coastline and port.HistoryContrary to many of the other gardens around Montjuïc, which were created for the International Exhibition in 1929, the gardens Mossèn Costa i Llobera were designed and developed much later, in 1970. The gardens were built under the guidance of the architect Joan Maria Casamor and Joan Pañella Bonastre, professor at the Escuela de Jardinería de Barcelona (Barcelona's Municipal Gardening School) and they were initially used as an outdoor classroom for botany students. 1987 the New York Times included the park in the list of the 10 most beautiful Gardens on the planet. 1987 was not exactly a good year for this unique collection of botanical rarities though. In the winter of 1987, the gardens suffered a harsh frost, and had just recovered from the effects of another severe frost in the winter of 1985. The second frost in 1987 was fatal to many of the plants and its variety was reduced by almost 40%.A structural an aesthetic refurbishment was carried out between 2006 and 2011