Jardin Rosa Mir
Encyclopedia
The Jardin Rosa Mir is a garden located in the center of La Croix-Rousse
quarter in the 4th arrondissement of Lyon
, and created by Jules Senis. It is housed in a courtyard
of the building at No. 83 Grande Rue de la Croix-Rousse. It can be accessed through a path located at No. 87 in the same street.
. He was diagnosed with cancer
, but recovered after several years in hospital. During his illness, he had vowed to build a garden if he managed to leave the hospital, and thus created the garden Rosa Mir, to which he devoted the last twenty-five years of his life.
He dedicated this garden to his mother Rosa Mir Mercader.
, lemon tree
s, prickly pear
, rose
s, agave
s and weed
s. The garden is made of many columns topped with succulent plants, gantries and ties decorated with thousands of seashell
s (oysters, scallop
s), various kinds of stones, coral
, desert rose
s, volcanic rock
s and snail
s that cover all surfaces. At the center of the garden, there is a kind of fountain of about three meters high, covered with multicolored stones. On the left, an altar
is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The garden has an area of 400 sqm. The decor is inspired by the Spanish art, and seems to draw on the Antoni Gaudi
's work in Barcelona
(Park Guel or the Sagrada Família
). The originality of this garden for visitors often evokes Ferdinand Cheval
's work, although the garden is more of a mixture of floral structures and finely decorated combining minerals and plants.
An association was created around 1983 to prevent the garden would be destroyed. It was listed in the supplementary inventory of the monuments historiques in 1987 and has the label Patrimoine du XXe siècle (20th-century heritage), and has been the property of the City of Lyon since 1983. The garden is regularly frequented by visitors from around the world and was mentioned in Japanese publications.
The journalist Pierrick Eberhard described the garden as a "kitsch masterpiece" which reflects "the extraordinary expertise in the service of the fixed idea of work".
The garden is open every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. from 1 April to 30 November.
La Croix-Rousse
This zone is served by the metro line La Croix-Rousse is a hill in the town of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a quarter located on this hill . It is 254m at its peak...
quarter in the 4th arrondissement of Lyon
4th arrondissement of Lyon
The 4th arrondissement of Lyon is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon.-History:The 4th arrondissement of Lyon was created on 24 March 1852 , with the same borders of the old town of La Croix-Rousse.Dominique Bolliet is currently the mayor of this arrondissement.-Streets and...
, and created by Jules Senis. It is housed in a courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
of the building at No. 83 Grande Rue de la Croix-Rousse. It can be accessed through a path located at No. 87 in the same street.
History
This garden was created by Jules Senis (1913-1983), a tiler and bricklayer artisan, Spanish anarchist who had fled to France to escape the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. He was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, but recovered after several years in hospital. During his illness, he had vowed to build a garden if he managed to leave the hospital, and thus created the garden Rosa Mir, to which he devoted the last twenty-five years of his life.
He dedicated this garden to his mother Rosa Mir Mercader.
Description
Plants that compose this garden are mostly geraniums, ivyIvy
Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
, lemon tree
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
s, prickly pear
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
, rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s, agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....
s and weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
s. The garden is made of many columns topped with succulent plants, gantries and ties decorated with thousands of seashell
Seashell
A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers...
s (oysters, scallop
Scallop
A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
s), various kinds of stones, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
, desert rose
Desert rose (crystal)
thumb|right|250px|Saharan desert rose, 47 cm long.Desert rose is the colloquial name given to rosette formations of the minerals gypsum and barite with poikilotopic sand inclusions...
s, volcanic rock
Volcanic rock
Volcanic rock is a rock formed from magma erupted from a volcano. In other words, it is an igneous rock of volcanic origin...
s and snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s that cover all surfaces. At the center of the garden, there is a kind of fountain of about three meters high, covered with multicolored stones. On the left, an altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The garden has an area of 400 sqm. The decor is inspired by the Spanish art, and seems to draw on the Antoni Gaudi
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
's work in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(Park Guel or the Sagrada Família
Sagrada Familia
The ' , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí...
). The originality of this garden for visitors often evokes Ferdinand Cheval
Ferdinand Cheval
Ferdinand Cheval was a French postman who spent thirty-three years of his life building Le Palais Idéal in Hauterives...
's work, although the garden is more of a mixture of floral structures and finely decorated combining minerals and plants.
An association was created around 1983 to prevent the garden would be destroyed. It was listed in the supplementary inventory of the monuments historiques in 1987 and has the label Patrimoine du XXe siècle (20th-century heritage), and has been the property of the City of Lyon since 1983. The garden is regularly frequented by visitors from around the world and was mentioned in Japanese publications.
The journalist Pierrick Eberhard described the garden as a "kitsch masterpiece" which reflects "the extraordinary expertise in the service of the fixed idea of work".
The garden is open every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. from 1 April to 30 November.