At Little Sparta

[imomus]

Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta—four acres of labyrinthine grottos, nymph glades, heathery uplands, graeco-scottish lakes, french revolutionary beehives, lush greenhouses, quirky temples, rambling outhouses, all dotted with stone- and wood-carved epigrams from Saint Just and the Latins—is the most gorgeous and remarkable thing I've seen all year. What a joy it was to ramble there quite lost for an hour on Sunday, and even spy the 80 year-old artist himself sitting in his conservatory. And how extraordinary to make your life's work a living work of art which you can inhabit, and share with others: a postmodern, neo-classical, pastoral utopia. Or, simply, a garden.

Comments

this is very refreshing...

[jina---.livejournal.com]

how's the weather over there?

Re: this is very refreshing...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It's actually gorgeous... Quite unlike the dreich Edinburgh I remember.