Parc de la Nova Icària, Urban park in La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, Barcelona, Spain.
Parc de la Nova Icària is an urban park in Barcelona's La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, beside Nova Icària beach. Created in 1992 to a design by Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay, it is crossed by the Ronda del Litoral, partly underground, which gives rise to the Plaça dels Campeons. Its main feature is a large lake shaped like the Greek island of Icaria, crossed by several wooden bridges, which earned it the nickname "park of the bridges". Grassy slopes border the water, with irises and rushes, and trees are few, notably ombúes, elders and weeping willows.
The park was created during the 1990s as part of converting an industrial site into a public green space for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. This transformation turned a former factory area into a residential neighborhood with recreational spaces.
The name comes from the Greek island of Icaria, recalled by Étienne Cabet in his novel Voyage en Icarie, which inspired the utopian Icarian movement. Between 1846 and 1847 some of his followers in Barcelona settled in this part of Poblenou and called it Nova Icària. The park is also known as the park of the bridges for the wooden footbridges over its lake.
The park is easily accessible by public transportation, and facilities including children's play areas, sports courts, and picnic spaces are distributed throughout the grounds. Visitors can combine a park visit with nearby beach access or other Olympic Village attractions.
The park is also called "parc dels Ponts" (park of the bridges) because several wooden footbridges cross its lake, whose outline follows the shape of the Greek island of Icaria. The lake lies over the covered section of the Ronda del Litoral, and the Plaça dels Campions beside it holds one of the podiums used at the 1992 Olympic Games, with athletes' names set into the paving.
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