Saltpeter Gardens

Jardín del Salitre or Jardín de la Polvora is located in the old premises of the Royal Saltpeter and Powder Factory of Murcia, or as King Felipe IV named it: Real Fábrica de la Pólvora y Salitre.

As of 1654, the factory premises were used to store and refine significant quantities of saltpeter, material needed to produce gunpowder. The factory, the only one in Spain supplying gunpowder and bullets to the Spanish soldiers in the Independence War against the French, has been owned by different people. In 1885, it was given to the Spanish Government, which conditioned part of it to house soldiers working at the Javalí Viejo Gunpowder Factory.

In 1987, the municipality of Murcia became the new owner and decided to restore it and turn it into a public park. The new space has clearly differentiated parts: Jardín Hondo, gardens of Spanish-Arabic influence, the Water Arch Square, with a fountain that has three arcs symbolizing the three  types of cultures inhabiting the Segura Valley, the Aromatic Plant Mace and the Lake in which underground water from under the parking lot is collected and used to irrigate the gardens.