As part of the International Garden Exhibition 2017, the "Gardens of the World" have grown on an area of 43 hectares. Six years later, they are still being tended and cared for and enjoy a large number of visitors. You should take a day to see everything at your leisure. And the area, located in the Marzahn recreation park, has grown even more. The Jewish Garden last opened in 2021. In the labyrinth of the most beautiful "gardens in the world", you will find different variations of country-specific gardens. Without a route map, however, you are lost here, you can find your way in - but not out. Originally, the gardens went back to the Marzahn recreational garden, which was created in 1987 to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin.

The "Gardens of the World" project began towards the end of the 1990s. One after the other, the Chinese Garden was created in 2000 and the Japanese and Balinese Gardens in 2003. After a two-year break, the Oriental Garden was realized in 2005 and the Korean Garden in 2006. The Maze and the Labyrinth followed in 2007. The Italian Renaissance Garden was opened to the public in 2008. The Christian Garden was added in 2011 and the English Garden in 2017. The IGA opened in the same year. Some special features of the gardens include the largest Chinese garden in Europe - also known as the "Garden of the Reclaimed Moon". It was created to mark the city partnership between Berlin and Beijing. There are authentic Chinese buildings, including a teahouse called Berghaus, and a zigzag bridge leads to a small pond. The "Garden of Confluent Water" was also created as a Japanese version as a symbol of the Berlin-Tokyo city partnership. This is followed by the "Garden of Three Harmonies", which has its origins in Bali. It was created in the so-called "warm house", a 14-meter-high tropical hall. The exotic garden was designed and realized by Haas architects, whereas the Far Eastern gardens were created by landscape architects from the respective countries. Another attraction is the Oriental Garden "Garden of the Four Streams". This was planned by the Berlin-based landscape architect Kamel Louafi and checked for authenticity by a garden historian from Morocco. The Korean garden was also the result of a city partnership. The mayor of Seoul came to Berlin in 2003 and visited the city and the incumbent mayor Klaus Wowereit. This gave rise to the idea of adding a Korean garden to the "Gardens of the World".

For reasons of space, not all the gardens can be mentioned here. But to visit them, you should definitely take the cable car, which was built for the IGA and is still in operation.

www.gaertenderwelt.de

(Published in CUBE Berlin 02|23)