Project Eden - an incredible transformation of industrial quarry

When you look at all this magnificence of greenhouses, exotic plants and landscape design, it seems that this popular park of tourists has not less than a hundred years.

In fact, the Garden of Eden (Garden Of Eden) was created in 2001 on the initiative of music producer Tim Smith and is an example of successful and economically profitable land reclamation.

Recultivation of industrial areas, that is, their transformation after the end of operation in natural landscapes, is one of the pressing problems of the industrialized countries. Exhausted quarries for the extraction of minerals, embankments and rock dumps, as well as any other places where after the completion of economic activities of people there was a violation of the natural ecosystem, need environmental protection measures. In fact, this often simply does not have the funds, since it requires a lot of investment. Therefore, the project "Eden", created on the site of an abandoned quarry for the extraction of kaolin clay, in this sense is simply a role model.

For the implementation of this bold and yet so important from the environmental point of view, the project took 2.5 years, and the amount spent exceeded 130 million dollars. To the territory of the former quarry were brought tons of fertile soil, trees and bushes were planted, park paths were broken and sculptural compositions were installed. But the main highlight of the project "Eden" are two greenhouses, designed in the form of geodesic domes of different sizes, connected together.

All the variety of plants of the Botanical Garden "Eden" is united into three large collections. The first is a biome of moist equatorial forests, which is located in a large group of domes. The height of this structure is 55 meters, and the width is 100 meters. The total length of the building is 240 meters. In this conservatory it is warm and humid, and the plants presented here amaze by the violence of form and color.

The second collection unites plants of the Mediterranean. The inhabitants of the European subtropics also grow under the dome, but it is somewhat smaller than the first. With a ceiling height of 35 meters, the length of the greenhouse is 135 meters. In the Mediterranean greenhouse is not so wet, and the plants that live here have a more restrained and laconic appearance.

Well, the third part of the park's botanical collection is the indigenous inhabitants of Cornwall, who grow up in the open. Compositions from these plant species are fantastically combined with garden sculptures and other objects of park architecture, creating a unique image of this paradise.

In the greenhouses also live several species of birds and, of course, insects, designed to maintain the ecological balance in the plant community.

While contemplating this amazing park from the side, you can see some hints of the former clay pit, but only if you are aware of what was here before the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was conceived as a project reflecting a person's deep connection with the plant and animal world of our planet. His images surprise, inspire and make a new look at the world in which we live. In general, the project "Eden" demonstrates to all mankind a prudent attitude towards nature, which causes admiration.