AN extraordinary garden, featuring flower arrangements ranging from the form of national flags to the bull from Picassos Guernica began to grow on Wednesday at Sofias Alexander Battenberg Square.
The United Nations Gardens project launched this week amid five days of flower-centred festivities was initiated by the GRADINA (Garden) magazine, and is supported by Sofia Municipality, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bulgaria, and the Future for Bulgaria foundation.
The aim is to create miniature gardens representing the traditional gardening styles of different nations symbolising the integration of all nations through the beauty of flowers.
It will grow on the spot where Georgi Dimitrovs mausoleum once stood, a symbol of totalitarianism and the isolation of one nation from the rest of the world. It is a new symbol, a symbol of Bulgarias belonging to the world family of the United Nations.
Evelina Stoyanova, executive director of GRADINA magazine, said: We came up with the idea for the United Nations gardens last year. In November 2000 we met with Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofianski, who liked our idea a lot, and even suggested the place.
This February, on behalf of Sofianski, the GRADINA staff sent letters to all foreign ambassadors in Bulgaria to introduce them to the idea and to ask for their co-operation in creating the mini gardens of their countries.
The Greek embassy was the most involved with the project they had a large national company design the Greek garden, and it is to build it later. Morocco also got very involved they designed their gardens project. The rest of the embassies helped us by providing us with information about their countries, traditions, and flora, said Ms Stoyanova More than 20 countries will be represented in the United Nations Gardens. The project also envisages a United Nations sign made of flowers. The total area of the gardens is to be about 2,000 sq.m.
A team of landscape architects was engaged in the execution of the general project. At something like a brainstorming session, they came up with the general view of the space; they chose a broken relief to provide better visibility, and to make it look less like a cemetery, Stoyanova said.
For the designing of the separate gardens we wanted to engage as many Bulgarian companies as possible. We announced the UN Gardens project, and the interested landscape architecture companies contacted us. They chose the countries whose gardens they wanted to design, and we gave them the info we had received from the embassies.
The Bulgarian garden is designed to resemble a courtyard of Bulgarias National Revival period. The project includes elements of courtyards from various regions of the country, such as wells, trellised vines, stonewalls, and flowerbeds, forming a generalised image of a Bulgarian courtyard.
The British garden features blossoming rhododendrons, the endless English lawn, perfectly trimmed trees, and flowers everywhere in hanging baskets, stone vases, or adorning an old wheel.
The Italian one will have a fountain-like combination of vases fountains are typical of Italian gardens, while the Portuguese and the Lebanese gardens are designed to represent the countries national flags.
The centre of the Spanish garden will be a sand circle, creating the illusion of a corrida arena, and a metal plate with the bull fragment from Picassos famous painting Guernica.
The garden of South Africa, a country with very rich water resources, is to feature a river which you can walk on, and a tree arch a unique entrance to the flora of the country, giving a view of a palm tree surrounded by flowers and bushes.
We are very thankful to the Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofianski for all his support, Stoyanova said. In the first place, he allowed the initiative and provided the space, and also lent his name for the letters to ambassadors GRADINA magazine sent out.
The municipal company Ozeleniavane also prepared the ground before the landscape gardeners were let loose.
Both Mayor Sofianski and the Deputy Mayor on Urban Development Boris Spirov, and us, naturally, want the gardens to stay for good, but financing is difficult to find, and thus so is maintaining the gardens, Stoyanova said.
There are many different plants in the gardens; some tropical plants wont make it through the winter, others are annual, and if not replaced next year, they will disappear as well.
One maintenance option is for Ozeleniavane to look after the gardens. The UNDP has also offered to take care of the gardens after the festival, and is even considering to include them in the Beautiful Bulgaria project.
UN resident co-ordinator Antonio Vigilante expressed full support for the project in his letter to GRADINA: The idea of initiating an annual festival devoted to flowers in May is also excellent, particularly if it can symbolise the fact that diversity generates beauty and harmony. The diversity which exists within and between nations is also a wealth which should be used to strengthen ties between individuals, communities, and nations for the achievement of a world of piece, freedom, and prosperity.
The first of what is hoped will become an annual international spring/flower festival was intended to promote the UN Gardens.
Sofianski was due to open the event on Wednesday afternoon, but it was envisioned that festivities would begin in the morning.
Among the attractions planned were a flower pageant and a parade of flower-decked horses and retro automobiles; a water garden, a music garden, and a balloon garden; fireworks in flower forms, fashion shows and traditional Bulgarian rituals such as rose picking and grape gathering; ikebana and bonsai demonstrations; and entertainment for the children, like drawing contests and exhibitions, and performances by childrens folk ensembles and choirs.
The organisers were to announce each days festival programme the evening before.
The United Nations Gardens project launched this week amid five days of flower-centred festivities was initiated by the GRADINA (Garden) magazine, and is supported by Sofia Municipality, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bulgaria, and the Future for Bulgaria foundation.
The aim is to create miniature gardens representing the traditional gardening styles of different nations symbolising the integration of all nations through the beauty of flowers.
It will grow on the spot where Georgi Dimitrovs mausoleum once stood, a symbol of totalitarianism and the isolation of one nation from the rest of the world. It is a new symbol, a symbol of Bulgarias belonging to the world family of the United Nations.
Evelina Stoyanova, executive director of GRADINA magazine, said: We came up with the idea for the United Nations gardens last year. In November 2000 we met with Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofianski, who liked our idea a lot, and even suggested the place.
This February, on behalf of Sofianski, the GRADINA staff sent letters to all foreign ambassadors in Bulgaria to introduce them to the idea and to ask for their co-operation in creating the mini gardens of their countries.
The Greek embassy was the most involved with the project they had a large national company design the Greek garden, and it is to build it later. Morocco also got very involved they designed their gardens project. The rest of the embassies helped us by providing us with information about their countries, traditions, and flora, said Ms Stoyanova More than 20 countries will be represented in the United Nations Gardens. The project also envisages a United Nations sign made of flowers. The total area of the gardens is to be about 2,000 sq.m.
A team of landscape architects was engaged in the execution of the general project. At something like a brainstorming session, they came up with the general view of the space; they chose a broken relief to provide better visibility, and to make it look less like a cemetery, Stoyanova said.
For the designing of the separate gardens we wanted to engage as many Bulgarian companies as possible. We announced the UN Gardens project, and the interested landscape architecture companies contacted us. They chose the countries whose gardens they wanted to design, and we gave them the info we had received from the embassies.
The Bulgarian garden is designed to resemble a courtyard of Bulgarias National Revival period. The project includes elements of courtyards from various regions of the country, such as wells, trellised vines, stonewalls, and flowerbeds, forming a generalised image of a Bulgarian courtyard.
The British garden features blossoming rhododendrons, the endless English lawn, perfectly trimmed trees, and flowers everywhere in hanging baskets, stone vases, or adorning an old wheel.
The Italian one will have a fountain-like combination of vases fountains are typical of Italian gardens, while the Portuguese and the Lebanese gardens are designed to represent the countries national flags.
The centre of the Spanish garden will be a sand circle, creating the illusion of a corrida arena, and a metal plate with the bull fragment from Picassos famous painting Guernica.
The garden of South Africa, a country with very rich water resources, is to feature a river which you can walk on, and a tree arch a unique entrance to the flora of the country, giving a view of a palm tree surrounded by flowers and bushes.
We are very thankful to the Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofianski for all his support, Stoyanova said. In the first place, he allowed the initiative and provided the space, and also lent his name for the letters to ambassadors GRADINA magazine sent out.
The municipal company Ozeleniavane also prepared the ground before the landscape gardeners were let loose.
Both Mayor Sofianski and the Deputy Mayor on Urban Development Boris Spirov, and us, naturally, want the gardens to stay for good, but financing is difficult to find, and thus so is maintaining the gardens, Stoyanova said.
There are many different plants in the gardens; some tropical plants wont make it through the winter, others are annual, and if not replaced next year, they will disappear as well.
One maintenance option is for Ozeleniavane to look after the gardens. The UNDP has also offered to take care of the gardens after the festival, and is even considering to include them in the Beautiful Bulgaria project.
UN resident co-ordinator Antonio Vigilante expressed full support for the project in his letter to GRADINA: The idea of initiating an annual festival devoted to flowers in May is also excellent, particularly if it can symbolise the fact that diversity generates beauty and harmony. The diversity which exists within and between nations is also a wealth which should be used to strengthen ties between individuals, communities, and nations for the achievement of a world of piece, freedom, and prosperity.
The first of what is hoped will become an annual international spring/flower festival was intended to promote the UN Gardens.
Sofianski was due to open the event on Wednesday afternoon, but it was envisioned that festivities would begin in the morning.
Among the attractions planned were a flower pageant and a parade of flower-decked horses and retro automobiles; a water garden, a music garden, and a balloon garden; fireworks in flower forms, fashion shows and traditional Bulgarian rituals such as rose picking and grape gathering; ikebana and bonsai demonstrations; and entertainment for the children, like drawing contests and exhibitions, and performances by childrens folk ensembles and choirs.
The organisers were to announce each days festival programme the evening before.
