5. From Paraiso Square to España Square
We finally arrive at Basilio Paraíso Square. This area is a radial distribution node of the urban layout. Its fountain is one of the biggest of the city and serves as distribution element. Water games are lit by night, in the middle of an urban area highlighted by emblematic buildings such as the University Main Hall and the Army Regional Headquarters.
From Paraíso Square we go to the Constitución Promenade, one of the axis that links the city center to la Mina Promenade. There we find three beautiful sculpture-fountains. One of the most popular is Couple Walking under an Umbrella (1973) made by Manuel López García. Two lovers made in iron walking in silence by the avenue, accompanied (when the sculpture was made), by fountains representing kids. These fountains have been lost due to the fragility of the materials used, even though they continue to be present in the memory of many people who played with them. Walking down, in tune with the newest abstract and kinetic trends of the 1970s, we can see the Fountain (1970) by Ángel Orensanz, which develops abstract elements around a rising central axis, which seems to be floating, recalling the lightness of water when falling down, and contrasting with the green vault created by the trees placed on both sides. Finally, at the end of the avenue, at the site where the Fountain of the Good Shepherd was placed (now in the old slaughterhouse, its original place) we find the Monument to the Memory of the Victims of the Yakolev 42 (2004), made by the architect José Manuel Pérez Latorre. This monument was built to remember the soldiers of the Spanish army dead at the airplane tragedy that took place in 2003 in the city of Sahinkaya, Turkey. The monument is composed of a reinforced concrete structure with a black stone bench on it, oriented toward the tombstone made on corten steel. The names of all the dead soldiers are engraved by alphabetical order, and the structure has a slightly curved shape that evokes a plane taking-off. There are also two ponds -one at each side of the tombstone- and a small central orthogonal-shape lake. The water flows over this surface, creating a sense of calm around the memorial.
Crossing the perpendicular streets that link this avenue to the nearby Los Sitios Square, we arrive at this area presided by the Monument to the Sieges (1908) made by Agustín Querol. One more time, water creates a quiet atmosphere around another monument in homage to the heroes fell during the Spanish War of Independence. Then, we go to the Independencia Promenade, main axis of the city, started to be built in the 1870s. Under the pavement, the remains of the outskirts of the Muslim city of Sinhaya (10th and 12ve centuries) are buried. At España Square, we can see the Monument to the Martyrs of Religion and Homeland (1904) made by Ricardo Magdalena and Agustín Querol. The architectural group, which has a certain military flavour, is placed on a stone base, surrounded by an iron fence and a basin from which water jets emerge. After the last urban remodelation, pedestrians can have access to the small central roundabout placed around the fountain.