Monforte Garden

The origins of this garden can be traced to the orchard of the recreational estate of Don José Vic, Baró de Llaurí, located in the area outside the city walls. The current neoclassical garden was built in the second half of the nineteenth century by Sebastián Monleón Estellés, after the land was acquired by Don Juan Bautista Romero, Marquis of San Juan, a person of artistic sensitivity who made large investments in this construction.

On the death of the Marquis it was inherited by his wife, who in turn left it in inheritance to one of his nieces who married Don Joaquín Monforte Parrés. Hence the name by which this garden is known.

In 1941 it was declared a National Artistic Garden and in 1970 it became municipal property. After the restoration of the mansion and its neoclassical artistic layout, it was opened to the public in 1973.

As a curiosity, the statues of the two lions that guard the garden door, made of white stone from Colmenar, the work of José Bellver, were sculpted for the entrance of the Congress of Deputies of Madrid and rejected for their small size. The Marquis of San Juan acquired them to flank the front door to his garden.

It is said of this garden that it is the last historical-artistic garden of the nineteenth century that remains in the city of Valencia.