Mount Igueldo Amusement Park, Mountain amusement park in San Sebastián, Spain
Mount Igueldo Amusement Park sits on the summit of Monte Igueldo in San Sebastián's Antiguo district, reached by car or by the funicular from the base of the mountain. Its 20 rides include the Montaña Suiza of 1928, a scenic-railway-type track laid on a fixed concrete slab, and the Gran Laberinto of 1930. Above the grounds stands the Torreón, a stone tower with a crenellated parapet and corner turrets, whose upper floor was added as a viewing gallery with a panoramic terrace.
The park opened on 25 August 1912, inaugurated by Queen Regent Maria Christina together with its funicular. It was the only one of San Sebastián's three early-20th-century amusement parks to survive, after Ulía and Martutene (both 1907) closed. In 1925 gambling was banned and the casino became a ballroom; in 2014 the park and funicular were listed as a Monumental Complex.
The tower at the summit, now a museum of traditions, was designed by architect Luis Elizalde after the old wooden beacon "la Farola", which guided ships until 1854. The park's casino became a dance hall and picnic venue after gambling was banned in 1925. The Swiss Mountain ride, opened in 1928, still runs on its fixed concrete slab.
The funicular, designed by engineer Emilio Huici and built under Severiano Goñi, runs 312 metres up the mountain from the base station in western San Sebastián; it is the oldest funicular in the Basque Country and the third oldest in Spain. Entry to the park needs a ticket, and each ride is paid separately. A road to the park was built in 1913, so it can also be reached by car.
The Montaña Suiza, opened in 1928, runs on a fixed reinforced-concrete slab rather than a removable steel frame, with wooden cars on iron rails and a rider aboard who brakes the train; the park calls it the oldest ride of its kind still operating. The Río Misterioso keeps a few original dioramas.
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