介绍:
Anchor:
A garden in the heart of the Mexican rainforest is still enchanting visitors thirty years after the death of its owner. Its unique design features giant plants, fountains and flowers all made from concrete. Here's Xiaohua with today's third postcard from Mexico.
Reporter:
In the middle of the Mexican jungle, a ring-shaped structure invites visitors into the mysterious imaginary world of Las Pozas.
Staircases that lead to the sky, concrete flowers and perilous waterfall paths serve as a reminder of the surrealist imagination of the late Edward James, a visionary artist, poet and gardener.
James was a patron of Salvador Dali, and a friend and collector of works by other leading surrealist artists of the 1930s.
Located in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, the sprawling 40-hectare compound is part jungle, part garden and part surrealist masterpiece.
Orchids and bamboos are all made of concrete. Towering sculptures, Mayan-like structures and natural waterfalls dot the landscape.
With no specific plans for the garden's construction, the works stopped when James died in 1984, recalls the site director, Zaira Linan.
"It's been already thirty years, three decades, since the works of construction stopped, and pretty soon, approximately six years later, the garden opened its doors to the general public, because when Edward James still lived this was his private garden."
James settled in Mexico in the 1940s with dreams of creating a "Garden of Eden", but when his prized orchids were destroyed in a freak frost he decided to turn his attention to creating frost-proof flowers out of concrete.
Carlos Barbosa is a tour guide.
"There are bamboos, bromelias, lotus flowers, heliconias. All of them made of concrete. In 1962, a frost affected many plants. He was told that his flowers were burnt in a frost. He asked why, they said because of ice during a frost, and he replied 'so do them in concrete and nothing will happen to them again'. It started as a game, as a joke, but later it became reality. Now this is known as bio-architecture."
Before his death, James decided to transfer his properties in Mexico to the children of Plutarco Gastelum, the Mexican man who lead the construction works of Las Pozas.
James' godson, Plutarco Gastelum junior, inherited the sculpture garden and looked after it for many years. In 2007 he decided to transfer it to a foundation that could better manage the site.
Gastelum still lives nearby, and recalls vividly the personality of the British surrealist collector, who he used to call "Uncle Eduardo".
"With us he was kind of a magical uncle, very tender. Later I've read biographies of him and it doesn't look like many people saw that aspect. With us he was charming. We used to call him Uncle Eduardo. I was pretty old when I asked why did I have a British uncle and then I was told he was my godfather."
Thirty years have passed and his story still attracts hundreds of tourists to this surreal sculpture garden. Visitors Vida Arellano and Carlos Lugo say the garden has exceeded their expectations.
"Of what I had seen in videos and documents, I didn't expect it would be so impressive. Once you are here the nature and the sculptures envelop you, the architecture is incredible, amazing. It transports you to a different mental state."
Among the 36 sculptures a concrete coffin, said to be a creation of his own, ensures the presence of Edward James will be felt in the gardens for eternity.
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