I came across by accident this documentary called Around the world in 80 gardens on ABC channel. It's probably a series and I was watching only one of them but it had nuggets of gold in the episode. The stories (all of them true) are about extraordinary people. They have my utmost admiration.
The first story is about a British aristocrat named Sir Edward James. A poet and a passionate supporter of surrealism, his legacy is Las Pazos, a garden that he created in the heart of the tropical jungle of Mexico. Here he commissioned more than 150 men to build the surreal sculptures he had in this mind. Most of them majestic, most of them have no apparent function or normal artistic proportion but they are beautiful, in an ugly sort of way. With the moss covering the sculptures, the rain that falls so frequently and the beautiful waterfall, it really looks like a magical garden covering 80 acres. Not surprising, he is a firm supporter of Dali, one of my favourite artists!
Watch this Utube video and look out for the stairs that goes up to the sky but leads to nowhere. Sculptures of serpents, giant flowers, perfume bottles, archs interlocking - completely mind boggling but yet, after seeing them wont leave my mind alone. I wish I could one day see it for myself, be there to experience the magic. The magic that he felt when he decided to build his dream garden, after swimming naked in the pool of the waterfall, he lied down next to the stream to rest and a bunch of blue butterflies came and rested on him. Enchanting!
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