Green palaces. Part II

I tried to avoid one of the most common places, the Versailles gardens. Believe me, I admired them, but I won’t say another word about that extraordinary green spectacle. Instead, I’ll talk about gardens where luxury is below meaning.

Gardens, more than only delightful and recreational palaces inside palaces, are meditation, reflection, and spiritual places, of course not in the occidental world, but in far orient. In Japan, gardens are full of symbols. Gardens are semiotic and spiritual books where you walk, but more than that, they let you walk inside, so you inhabit yourself. They bring you health, peace, joy, silence, and the opportunity of a direct connection between this world and the next. Such is their importance and intention.

Nakane Kinsaku - Zenko Adachi, 1970

So, I’ll give you in the illustrative image of this note one of Japan's most important gardens, those that live in the Adachi Museum of Art. I’m sure most of you may think that there’s nothing like Versailles gardens, but the main difference is the meaning, because one is ornamental and the other is a human connection, where peace embraces you, and beauty tells you that you are part of it. The founder, Adachi Zenko, believed that “the garden is also a canvas”.

In these times, where many immersive expos substitute content with production [electronics, light, music, controlled environments inside forums], they create —I admit— astonishing atmospheres; nature makes a silent statement: the elegance of patience to grow slowly speaks in our ear that life is enough production to amaze us, to be awe.

Green palaces. Part II