Móstoles Planets Garden

Saturn. Luis Morato (Atlas Obscura User)

Wandering through this park lets you walk among the planets—scaled-down sculptures of the planets, that is.

The Móstoles Planets Garden is split into two parts. The Garden of the Spheres, by Javier Mañero, originally included sculptures of the solar system’s eight planets, as well as the dwarf planet Pluto. The planets are spread around the Sun, which is represented by a cobbled circle surrounded by quotes from philosophers, scientists, and astronomers.

The other component is the Garden of the Writings, where the influence of the Sun’s rays on the planets is represented throughout the park by arcs also accompanied by texts from astronomers and scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Einstein. Plaques explaining the function of the solar system and its relation to life on Earth are scattered around the park.

The park was inaugurated in April 2003 in Móstoles, a suburb of Madrid. Its planned layout is shown on the plaques near the planets. Unfortunately, Venus and Pluto have been removed, perhaps because of vandalism. The plaques with information about the Earth and Venus have also disappeared.

Know Before You Go

The best way to visit this park is by walking from the Sun to Pluto. You can also ride your bike here. The nearest stations are Universidad Rey Juan Carlos by tube and Móstoles and Móstoles El Soto by commuter train.