Via Roma 2 - Gardone Riviera (BS)
André Heller Botanical Garden: a day for the whole family between art and nature
Bamboo forests, Himalayan plants, Japanese carp… in Gardone Riviera, on Lake Garda! The André Heller Foundation Botanical Garden, also known as the A. Hruska Garden, is an extraordinary open-air botanical encyclopedia among the most original in Europe. In addition to a luxuriant and varied nature, it hosts works of contemporary art.
Located on the Brescia side of Lake Garda, it was born by the will of the doctor and biologist Arthur Hruska between 1910 and 1971 and covers an area of about 10,000 square meters. Inside there are plants from the most disparate places on the planet: Oceania, Himalaya, Africa, Canada, Japan and the Dolomites. At the center of the park, in fact, there is a small-scale reproduction of a real alpine valley, full of typical mountain vegetation. A few steps from the olive trees that stud Lake Garda, here there are pines, mosses, Nordic trees, Dolomite plants with the characteristic reddish stones on a rocky promontory of 13 meters.
Walking through the park, it is therefore normal to come across an edelweiss and immediately afterwards in a cactus, ferns, Tibetan primroses, magnolias, orchids, water lilies. In addition to the variety of flora, the landscape is also surprising: the spaces of the Garden alternate in dense bamboo forests, Japanese lakes, streams and waterfalls. To top it all, you can often come across splendid fountains with spectacular water features, which, especially in the summer months, offer a moment of pleasant refreshment.
The further turning point came in 1988, when the artist André Heller bought the land with the desire to create a real ecological paradise, but with a twist. In fact, Heller inserts in the Garden works of contemporary sculpture by characters of the caliber of Keith Haring, Auguste Rodin, Mimmo Paladino and Roy Liechtenstein. The lively ticket office denotes the nature of the place right from the entrance: not just a Botanical Garden but a real "collection of samples from the world", a Wunderkammer to explore, an unexpected journey for a day full of beauty and natural and artistic biodiversity. The installations present, as well as the various elements inside the park, recall places, spaces, and times that are very distant from each other. Tibetan representations, Buddhist symbologies, statues of Hindu culture, the head of the Babylonian god Johannes, the Chinese door Torii, coexist harmoniously with contemporary installations by Liechtenstein, Rodin, Keith Haring, Edgar Tezak, Erwin Novak, Susanne Smoegner and by Heller himself.
In the spirit of mixing and intersecting different cultures and activities, the Garden also hosts sustainability-oriented workshops, gardening courses, technical-professional courses, as well as specific botanical exhibitions and temporary art exhibitions.
Useful info:
The Garden is located in the center of Gardone Riviera and is easily reachable from the town harbor with a five-minute walk uphill. There is a large parking area outside. Dogs are welcome!
