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CASILDA ITURRIZAR PARKEA · THE DUCK PARK · LEFT BANK

Doña Casilda Park

An English-style garden laid out from 1907 on land given by Casilda Iturrizar, the servant-turned-philanthropist who became one of Bilbao's richest women: a duck pond, century-old trees, a pergola and the Fine Arts Museum, now running down to the river.

The duck pond of Doña Casilda Park, birds on its little islands

Photo: Alberto-g-rovi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

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Doña Casilda Park

What you are looking at

Indautxu · left bank

Café tables under the plane trees of Doña Casilda Park
Café tables under the plane trees of Doña Casilda ParkZarateman, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
  1. 1
    The duck pondThe pond that gives the park its nickname, home to ducks and other waterfowl, with two jets of water.
  2. 2
    The pergolaA shaded colonnade around the old fountain, once a stage for performances.
  3. 3
    The old treesCentury-old specimen trees of many species from the original English-style garden.
  4. 4
    Casilda's monumentA monument to the woman who gave the land, among the park's many statues.
  5. 5
    The Forest of LampsA cluster of old street lamps planted like trees in one corner of the park.
  6. 6
    The museumThe Fine Arts Museum, built entirely inside the park on its eastern side.

Reading the place

The sight in full

Why it matters

The Parque de Doña Casilda Iturrizar is the main park of central Bilbao, an English-style garden in the Ensanche on the left bank. For most of the twentieth century it was the city's only real green space, and people in Bilbao still call it the Parque de los Patos, the Duck Park, after its pond.

The pergola of Doña Casilda Park framing its fountain
The pergola of Doña Casilda Park framing its fountainPA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

For a visitor it is the pause between the city's two great museums: the Fine Arts Museum stands inside it, and the Guggenheim is a short walk away along the river. Since the riverfront was rebuilt it reaches down to the Ría, so you can walk from the museum's lawns to the water's edge without crossing a main road.

The woman who gave it

The park is named after Casilda Iturrizar, born in Bilbao in 1818 to a modest family. As a young woman she worked as a servant in the house of the merchant Tomás José de Epalza, a businessman who had made his fortune in Cuba and was one of the founders of the Banco de Bilbao. In 1859, after his first marriage was finally dissolved, they married in the church of San Nicolás, beside the Arenal.

A columned stone monument among the trees of Doña Casilda Park
A columned stone monument among the trees of Doña Casilda ParkAcediscovery, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

When Epalza died in 1873 Casilda inherited everything, one of the three largest fortunes in the city, and managed the business herself, investing in banking, property, railways and coal mining. She spent much of her fortune on charity and culture, paying for schools, hospitals and social works, and she and her husband were guardians of the young architect Alberto de Palacio, who would design the Bizkaia Bridge. She died in 1900. The park stands on land in Abando that she gave to the city, and a street, Viuda de Epalza, the widow of Epalza, also carries her name.

Her mark on the city

Casilda's name turns up all over the city. She paid for the schools on Tívoli street, opened in 1884 and later named after her, and gave large sums to the House of Mercy and the civil hospital, where a pavilion of the Basurto hospital still bears her name. She was one of the main shareholders of the company that built the Nuevo Teatro de Bilbao, now the Teatro Arriaga, and she paid for organs in the cathedral and in San Nicolás.

The stone fountain dedicated to the painter Guiard in Doña Casilda Park
The stone fountain dedicated to the painter Guiard in Doña Casilda ParkEuskarAbentura Espedizioa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

When she died on 22 February 1900 the city placed a plaque on her house saying that heaven had given her great riches which she shared with a generous hand among the needy. She left the Tívoli schools and money for free teaching to the city in her will.

The garden

The park was designed by the architect Ricardo Bastida, who also built the city's wine warehouse, now Azkuna Zentroa, with the engineer Juan de Eguiraun, and work began in 1907. It is an English-style landscape garden, with curving paths, lawns and groups of trees rather than formal beds, and many of its trees are now more than a century old.

The colonnade of the pergola, the Iberdrola Tower beyond the trees
The colonnade of the pergola, the Iberdrola Tower beyond the treesJare.Urrutxe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The pond, with several species of waterfowl, is the park's heart, and two jets of water rise from it. Nearby, a pergola, a shaded colonnade once used for performances, surrounds a fountain that gave light, water and sound shows and is now an ornamental fountain. There is an open area used for concerts and public events and a classic carousel for children.

Statues and monuments

The monument to the musician Aureliano Valle in Doña Casilda Park
The monument to the musician Aureliano Valle in Doña Casilda ParkAlberto-g-rovi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

The park is full of monuments, and finding them is part of a walk through it. There is a monument to Casilda Iturrizar herself, by the sculptor Agustín Querol, unveiled by the city in 1906 in the Plaza Elíptica and later moved here, and others to the painter Adolfo Guiard, the poet Ramón de Basterra, the poet Gabriel Aresti, the musician Aureliano Valle and the Tonetti brothers, a famous family of clowns. A bronze figure of a reader, Leyendo, by Joaquín Lucarini sits among the trees.

In one corner stands the Bosque de Farolas, the Forest of Lamps, a group of old street lamps planted together like a grove. Around the Fine Arts Museum are more sculptures, among them the monument to the composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga by Francisco Durrio.

A park that lost ground and gained it back

The bust of the poet Ramón de Basterra in Doña Casilda Park
The bust of the poet Ramón de Basterra in Doña Casilda ParkZarateman, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

During the twentieth century the park lost ground. The Fine Arts Museum was built entirely inside it, and a four-lane road into the city center, the park road, was cut along its northern edge, separating it from the river and the shipyards beyond.

Since 2006 the rebuilding of Abandoibarra has given that ground back: the park road was removed and the park was extended over land that once belonged to the Euskalduna shipyards, joining it to the new riverside walks. It is still the main green space of the city, though no longer the only one.

How to visit

The bronze clown waving his hat, the monument to the Tonetti brothers
The bronze clown waving his hat, the monument to the Tonetti brothersJavi Guerra Hernando, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The park is public and costs nothing to enter; allow half an hour for a walk, longer with a stop at the pond or a visit to the museum. It lies in the Ensanche between the Fine Arts Museum, the Euskalduna and the Iberdrola Tower, a short walk from the Moyúa and San Mamés Metro stations and the riverside tram.

It is a good place to break a day of museums: start at the Guggenheim, walk the river to the park, see the Fine Arts Museum, and finish at the duck pond. The itineraries page builds a day around it.

Honest notes

A rough stone carrying a plaque to the poet Gabriel Aresti, beside a park path
A rough stone carrying a plaque to the poet Gabriel Aresti, beside a park pathWikimaribarre, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The water and light shows that made the fountain famous are no longer a regular feature, and the pond has changed its birds over the years; the park is a quiet city garden rather than an attraction, used every day by the people who live around it.

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