The gardens of the Horta Labyrinth (Parc del Laberint d’Horta) are the oldest surviving gardens in Barcelona. A strange and mysterious place, this park is said to be one of the Masonic initiation gardens. It dates back to 1791 and sits beside the neo-Arabic-style palace, which contains a medieval tower, on land that was part of an estate belonging to the Marquis of Llupià, Poal and Alfarràs, a man of the Enlightenment who commissioned the work from Domenico Bagutti, hence its Italian look.

Horta Labyrinth Park

The labyrinth park has a number of corners that look back to classical traditions and are full of Masonic symbolism. It has two distinct areas: the woodland, symbol of the unconscious, of obsession and of our fears, and the garden, symbol of order and of a serene mind that has achieved mastery over itself.

In the centre of the garden, laid out over several levels, are the maze, the two little temples, the pond with the dolphin statue and Narcissus’s grotto, which stand for different degrees of order, surrounded by imitation woodland: chaos.

So it represents the journey from chaos to order, like a work of creation. The two dolphins spouting water symbolise duality and reflect the world of the spirit. The water symbolises the flow of thought, and the intertwined dolphins also suggest movement. But the water they spout ends up in a square pond, a symbol of the perfection reached through the practice of art. And finally, the references to the labyrinth stand for the search for love, the harmony of opposites.

Source: ‘Misterios de Barcelona’, Ernesto Milà.

*Intertwined dolphins
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Symbolism aside, a stroll around this park is a real pleasure, full of little surprises, and going into the cypress maze is a small adventure that I’d highly recommend for young and old alike.

At the park entrance there’s a small bar in case you fancy stopping for a drink, and a play area with a slide for the little ones.

A bit of trivia: a scene from the film ‘Perfume’ was shot here in the labyrinth park.

Oh, and right opposite the park, in case you’ve never seen one, there’s a velodrome that is sometimes open to the public.

If you’d like to eat in the area, you can go to Can Cortada (Av. Estatut de Catalunya s/n – 934272315) or Can Travi Nou (C. Jorge Manrique s/n – 934280301), old farmhouses (masies) that have been converted into restaurants serving Catalan food.

Labyrinth Park address: Passeig dels Castanyers 1

Getting there: metro L3, Mundet station

Opening hours: 10am to 9pm

Price: €2.20. Free on Sundays.

More photos of the labyrinth park at this link.

And here’s more information about the Horta labyrinth park.

View Horta Labyrinth Park in a larger map