Cultural Heritage
Vicente Loriente de Castropol Park
Very few public spaces in Asturias have such a genuine and peculiar charm as this park, and the fact that it is located in a town and a coastal enclave such as Castropol and its estuary is enough of an argument in favour of its beauty. Even so, the "Vicente Loriente" park is, in itself, a unique example of the mark left by the sons of the town who achieved social prestige and recognition in overseas lands.
It owes its name to the illustrious Vicente Loriente, an emigrant to Cuba who, after making his fortune trading in goods in Havana, became the main benefactor of the town of Castropol. It was not in vain that HM King Alfonso XIII, at the proposal of his Minister of the Navy, awarded him the Grand Cross of Naval Merit (white) for the work he carried out for the erection of the monument to Villaamil. This decoration, the highest that the Navy can award to civilian men, would be a source of legitimate satisfaction for all the people of Castropol.
Before the construction of the park, the green space was a meeting place for the residents of Castropol; an "alameda" (as it was popularly known) where the town's festivities and meetings were held.
The park retains all the charm of the era in which it was created. Nestled between the unique architecture of the chapel of Santa María del Campo, the Quisco de la Música and the eclectic Casino-Theatre, it took on its current configuration in 1911, coinciding with the inauguration of the statue of Fernando Villaamil located in its central park, thus acquiring a physiognomy much more in keeping with the concept of the park developed from the first half of the 19th century onwards.
