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The PARC DE LA CIUTADELLA seems to have a peculiar ability to take in far more than would seem possible from its outward dimensions. As well as a lake, you'll find here Gaudi's monumental fountain and the city zoo, two natural history museums and Catalunya's legislative assembly, the Parlement . This last occupies a fortress-like structure right at the centre of the park, the surviving portion of the star-shaped citadel from which the park takes its name. It was erected by Felipe V in 1715, to subdue Barcelona after its spirited resistance to the Bourbons in the War of the Spanish Succession, and a whole city neighbourhood - refounded as Barceloneta - had to be destroyed to make room for the citadel. The Bourbon symbol of authority survived uneasily, until it too was destroyed in 1869 and the surrounding area made into a park. It seems a fitting irony that the main palace structure is once again home to the autonomous Catalan parliament, which first sat here between 1932 and 1939. Perhaps the most notable of the park's sights is the Cascada , the monumental fountain in the northeast corner. Designed by Josep Fontsere, the architect chosen to oversee the conversion of the former citadel grounds into a park, this was the first of the major projects undertaken here. Fontsere's assistant in the work was the young Antoni Gaudi, then a student: the Baroque extravagance of the Cascada is suggestive of the flamboyant decoration which was later to become Gaudi's trademark. The best place to contemplate it is from the small open air cafe just south of it. Here you'll also find a small lake, where you can rent a punt and paddle about among the ducks (?1.80 per person per half-hour). Gaudi is also thought to have had a hand in the design of the Ciutadella's iron park gates, at the entrance on Avinguda Marques de l'Argentera.
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