Project "Eden" - an incredible transformation of an industrial career

Walking through this botanical garden, located in the county of Cornwall (United Kingdom), it is hard to imagine that quite recently there was a rather unsightly landscape here - a clay quarry. When you look at all this splendor of greenhouses, exotic plants and landscape design, it seems that this popular tourist park is at least a hundred years old.

In fact, the Garden of Eden was created in 2001 on the initiative of music producer Tim Smith and is an example of successful and cost-effective land restoration.

Reclamation of industrial territories, that is, their conversion after completion of exploitation into natural landscapes, is one of the urgent problems of industrialized countries. Well-developed mining quarries, mounds and dumps of rocks, as well as any other places where, after the completion of economic activity of people, a violation of the natural ecosystem occurred, need environmental protection measures. In fact, there is often simply no money for this, since it takes a lot to invest. Therefore, the Eden project, created on the site of an abandoned quarry for the extraction of kaolin clay, in this sense is just a role model.

The implementation of this bold and at the same time so important project from an environmental point of view took 2.5 years, and the amount spent exceeded $ 130 million. Tons of fertile soil were brought into the territory of the former quarry, trees and shrubs were planted, park paths were laid out and sculptural compositions were installed. But the main highlight of the Eden project are two greenhouses, designed in the form of geodesic domes of different sizes, interconnected.

The whole variety of plants of the Eden Botanical Garden is combined into three large collections. The first is the biome of the wet 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. This greenhouse is warm and humid, and the plants represented here are striking in a riot of shape and color.

The second collection brings together Mediterranean plants. The inhabitants of the European subtropics also grow under the dome, but it is slightly smaller than the first. With a ceiling height of 35 meters, the length of the greenhouse is 135 meters. In the Mediterranean greenhouse it is no longer so humid, and the plants living here have a more restrained and laconic appearance.

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

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

Contemplating this amazing park from the side, you can see some hints of the former clay quarry, but only if you are aware of what was before the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was conceived as a project, reflecting the deep connection of man with the flora and fauna of our planet. His images surprise, inspire and make you take a fresh look at the world in which we live. On the whole, the Eden project demonstrates admiration for nature to all mankind, evoking admiration.