Lidia Park

Lidia Park
Pădurice Park
Parcul Lidia
Type	Urban park
Location	Timișoara, Romania
Coordinates	45°44′0″N 21°14′35″E
Area	9.03 ha[1]
Established	1900
Administered by	Timișoara City Hall
Species	62[1]

Lidia Park (Romanian: Parcul Lidia), officially named Pădurice Park (pădurice meaning "small forest") since 2015, is an urban park in Timișoara, Romania. A nursery in the 1900s, the park was remodeled 90 years later, the current structure existing since 1999, when the alleys were laid out. With an area of 9.03 hectares, Lidia Park is the largest in Timișoara.

Location

Lidia Park is located in the southern part of Timișoara, near the Soarelui district, being bordered to:

• south, by Marshal Constantin Prezan Street (formerly Lidia Street),
• east, by Uranus Street,
• west, by Versului Street,
• north, by the Waldorf High School grounds.

History

Lidia Park was laid out in 1900, being thought of as a nursery with a greenhouse, a stable and a house, where thousands of trees were grown and later planted in the city.[2] During the war, the dendrological material matured, the land becoming a forest.[3]

At the beginning of the 1980s, three asphalted lanes were laid out in the north–south direction, which intersected with two lanes bordering the park on the north and south sides. In 1999, the park was rehabilitated, on this occasion being extended on the west side to Versului Street, and on the south side to Lidia Street. Also on this occasion, the rosarium in the southern part of the park was laid out, a lot of trees and shrubs were planted and the bushes that bordered the paths were removed, and a playground was laid out in the southeastern part of the park.

At the beginning of the 2000s, the Maranata Baptist Church was built on a portion of the park.

In 2016, a new renovation took place, during which the alleys were redesigned, a small lake, a rockery with a waterfall, a skatepark and a playground were set up.[2]

Layout

As part of the 2016 rehabilitation, the park was divided into seven gardens or thematic areas, inspired by the Butchart Gardens in Canada and Keukenhof in the Netherlands:[4]

• the English Garden
• the Biblical Garden
• the Italian Garden
• the Modern Garden
• the Spanish Garden is a monastic classical garden with cross-shaped alleyway layout.
• the Greek Garden has a mini-amphitheatre as a central point.
• the Romantic Garden includes a rosarium, a water lilies lake, a birdhouse and an ornamental rockery.

References

1. "Cadrul natural și peisagistic al municipiului Timișoara" (PDF). Primăria municipiului Timișoara. 2010. p. 23.
2. "Parcul Pădurice este gata, oficial, în luna iunie. Imagini de pe șantier". TION. 4 May 2016.
3. Deaconescu, Roxana (14 May 2012). "Parcul Pădurice din Girocului, modernizat cu 2 milioane de euro. Va avea piste de skate, gazon special și sistem de irigare computerizat". Opinia Timișoarei.
4. Timișoara City Hall Environment Department. "The Gardens Park, also known as Little Forest Giroc Park, and as former Lidia Park". European Landscape Convention. pp. 8–12.