Paris may be famous for its French-style gardens, but when the weather's fine, a beautiful Oriental garden will brighten up our days right in the heart of Paris, on the Parvis de l'Institut du Monde Arabe.
For a direct trip to the Arab world, the Institut du Monde offers us a stroll through an ephemeral Oriental garden designed for the occasion by landscape architect Michel Péna, with its avenues of orange trees, palms, roses and jasmine, sublimated by an immense plant anamorphosis imagined by François Abelanet.
This garden is a nod to the finest garden creations, from the most ancient to the most contemporary, from the Iberian peninsula to the Indian subcontinent, and complements the exhibition organized by the Institut du Monde Arabe.
Here, you can enjoy a drink - real mint tea for 3.5€, homemade lemonade for 4.8€ - pita bread or salads for 8€, oriental pastries for 6€ and even a book, thanks to the introduction of a central café protected from the sun by an ingenious mechanism.
In the museum's rooms, over 300 drawings, models, stories and giant photo prints recount the history of gardens in the Orient, and bear witness to the art of gardens, both private and public, between culture, history, technique, botany, environment and society....
"Did you know that the public park is a recent innovation in the East? That in one of the ancient Persian languages, the word garden, pairi-daeza, gave rise to... paradise?", these are just some of the anecdotes that the Institut du Monde Arabe is unveiling this year.
From Babylon's Hanging Gardens to Cairo's brand-new al-Azhar Park, from Granada's Alhambra to Algiers' Jardin d'essai, from princely gardens to gardens for all, this fascinating tour takes us to the heart of city gardens!
Practical info
Gardens of the Orient at the Arab World Institute
From April 19 to September 25, 2016
Location: 1 rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard, 75005 Paris
Opening hours: 10am-6pm Tuesday to Friday, 10am-7pm weekends
Admission: €12 standard price, €6 12-25, RSA and unemployed
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Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.
Dates and Opening Time
From April 19, 2016 to September 25, 2016
Location
Arab World Institute
1 Rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard
75005 Paris 5
Access
Metro Jussieu line 7, line 10
Prices
12-25 ans, RSA, chômeurs: €6
tarif normal: €12
More information
Opening hours: 10am-7pm Tuesday to Friday, 10am-8pm weekends, late night until 9:30pm Friday
