Sarmiento Park, City park in Nueva Córdoba, Argentina.
Sarmiento Park is a 17-hectare park in Nueva Córdoba, Córdoba, designed by Carlos Thays on a plateau overlooking the Cañada Brook and the National University of Córdoba campus. It has a lake with boats, a rose garden, an open-air theater, a natatorium, and a Biodiversity Park (the former zoo, reopened in 2023). A flat walkable bridge with a pale deck and a red-roofed landing crosses the water, and paved paths curve across lawns bordered by tall trees and shrubs.
French urbanist Carlos Thays designed this green space in 1889 at the request of Miguel Crisol, and it opened in 1911 named after President Domingo Sarmiento. The transformation into its modern form took place over many decades, with the most recent major change being the conversion of the zoo into a Biodiversity Park.
The park's name honours Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the former president who promoted Argentina's national education system and was born a century before the 1911 opening. On 20 April 1930 Córdoba's Italian community donated a marble monument to Dante Alighieri at the west end of Deodoro Roca Avenue, carved by Francisco Petroni and bearing a stanza of the Divine Comedy; the governor then renamed the Carolinos Avenue as Avenida del Dante.
The Biodiversity Park, the former zoo, covers 17 hectares inside the park; entry is free and visitors can walk it alone or join a guided tour of about 150 minutes. The Greek Amphitheatre in the northwest is only partly in use while refurbishment continues. The park sits a few blocks from the microcentro, with the Ciudad de las Artes to the south and the UNC sports grounds to the southeast.
The Bicentennial Lighthouse stands inside the park, a landmark tied to Argentina's 2010 bicentenary celebrations. Nearby, the Dante lookout faces a marble monument to Dante Alighieri, carved by Francisco Petroni and donated by Córdoba's Italian community on 20 April 1930, with a stanza of the Divine Comedy on it.
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