Jardines de la Agricultura, Córdoba's Duck Gardens
3 min read
Written by official guides
The Jardines de la Agricultura (Agriculture Gardens) are a public park in the centre of Córdoba, located between Ronda de los Tejares and the avenues of América, Cervantes and de los Mozárabes. Everyone in the city knows them as the Jardines de los Patos (Duck Gardens), after the waterfowl living in their central pond, although their official name recalls the agricultural origin of the land on which they were built.
This article covers the history of the park, its most notable monuments and corners, and how to get there on foot, by bus or by car.
History of the Jardines de la Agricultura
The gardens were inaugurated on 1 March 1811, under mayor Domingo Badía Leblich, as a promenade on the outskirts of the historic centre of the time. Córdoba City Council bought the land, until then occupied by orchards, in 1863, and a year later, in 1864, the municipal architect Rafael de Luque y Lubián completely remodelled them: he laid out radially arranged squares and added wrought-iron benches, decorative tiles and dovecotes.
In 1868 the architect José María de Montis built the ponds that today feed the ducks that give the park its popular name.
On 21 February 1922 the Séneca Library opened in a small hut in the gardens; it came to hold some 2,000 volumes and received about 20,000 readers a year before disappearing in the 1960s. Decades later, the gardens once again hosted a library project: work on the new Provincial Library of Córdoba began in December 2014, was halted for two and a half years and resumed in 2019, until its inauguration on 7 February 2024.
What to see in the Jardines de la Agricultura
As well as serving as the neighbourhood's park, the gardens bring together several monuments, a newly built library and examples of trees rare in the city.
1. The duck pond
The central pond, built in 1868, is the best-known corner of the park and the one that gives it its popular name. Generations of Cordoban families come at weekends to see and feed the ducks, a custom established for decades.
2. The park's monuments
The gardens keep several commemorative sculptures, among them the monument to Julio Romero de Torres, inaugurated on 22 May 1940, the one dedicated to the poet Rubén Darío, from 1967, and the sculptural group Farmer, Agriculture and Progress, from 1964.
3. The Provincial Library of Córdoba
The newest building in the park is the Provincial Library of Córdoba, inaugurated on 7 February 2024 after works that dragged on, pauses included, for almost a decade.
4. The singular trees
The park brings together species rare in Córdoba's urban tree stock, among them a ginkgo specimen, alongside plane trees, elms, acacias and orange trees.
Opening hours of the Jardines de la Agricultura
The Jardines de la Agricultura are a municipal park with free, open access all year round, with no ticket or advance booking needed.
How to get to the Jardines de la Agricultura
The park is a little over ten minutes' walk from Plaza de las Tendillas, up Ronda de los Tejares towards Avenida de América.
By bus, Aucorsa line 2 connects the Fátima district with the Tejares area, very close to the entrance to the gardens.
By car, the most practical car park in the area is at Ronda de los Tejares, 30, next to El Corte Inglés shopping centre, a short walk from the entrance.
The Jardines de la Agricultura combine well with a visit to the Jardines de la Victoria, a short walk away along the avenues of the centre, and are a quiet stop for the morning, before the heat rises, or for late afternoon, when the park fills with families.
Book your guided tour
Want to discover it with an official guide who explains it to you in person?