I GIARDINI PENSILI DI BABILONIA | ANDARE PER GIARDINI

HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF THE GARDENS

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon stood as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. According to tradition, they were constructed around 590 B.C. by King Nebuchadnezzar II in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Baghdad. However, the precise location of the gardens remains uncertain, with some historians questioning their existence altogether. The issue of the gardens' whereabouts remains unresolved, and ongoing studies have generated diverse hypotheses. Some even suggest that Babylon might not have housed one of the Seven Wonders, as ancient sources, while describing the gardens, fail to provide a specific location within the city.

The first theory, proposed by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey, who conducted excavations from 1889 to 1917, placed the gardens in the northeast corner of the Southern Palace. Koldewey based his theory on the discovery of a vast structure with barrel-vaulted rooms and fourteen chambers, bordered by the enclosing wall. The finding of a well with holes in one of these chambers was crucial, linked to the water supply system. However, this theory had limitations, given the distance from the Euphrates, the source of irrigation water, and the fact that access to the gardens would have required passing through private rooms and offices. Subsequent excavations suggested that the rooms uncovered by Koldewey were likely storage spaces.

A second theory, proposed by D.J. Wiseman, places the gardens "above and to the north of the large masonry to the west" of the Southern Palace, extending toward the banks of the Euphrates. In the early 1990s, D.W.W. Stevenson presented an alternative thesis, suggesting that the gardens might have been an independent terraced structure, very close to the Southern Palace and probably to the south of it. However, no traces of this structure have been found to date.

Recent studies also introduced a theory advocated by Stephanie Dalley, suggesting that the gardens might not have been in Babylon at all but in the nearby city of Nineveh. Dalley perceives a confusion between Babylon and Nineveh in classical sources, attributing it to the classical authors' failure to see a clear break between Assyrian and Babylonian rule, referring to a generic "kingdom of Assyria" that had merely changed its capital. Furthermore, Babylonian sources do not mention the gardens, while Assyrian sources document significant water works in Nineveh under Sennacherib (668-631 B.C.), along with gardens near the banks of the Khors.

Babylon was surrounded by a double wall interrupted by the Ishtar Gate, adorned with over 120 statues of roaring lions, and through which the main road entered the city. Archaeologist Robert Koldewey discovered vaulted structures above the gate, forming the foundation for the elevated and terraced gardens. Given that using land for purposes other than agriculture was unusual at the time, the garden's design represented a significant cultural undertaking. An elaborate botanical garden featuring flora not native to the region was created, adapted to more humid climates. To irrigate the gardens adequately, an intricate hydraulic system was constructed, capable of lifting water from the river. The terraces for the gardens were entirely built with stone, a fact noted by Herodotus.

The irrigation system attracted the attention of D.W.W. Stevenson, who, relying solely on classical authors' descriptions, speculated that a water-lifting device called a noria was used. This method had traces in the East dating back to the 14th century B.C. In the case of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, two large basins at the base of the garden's staircase received water from the Euphrates through underground conduits. Wooden wheels or clay vessels were connected to the basins. When manually operated, these wheels filled with water and then released it into a collector on the upper level, where the process was repeated until reaching the highest level. A cistern at the top facilitated the redistribution of water through cascading conduits across the entire garden surface, serving both irrigation and ornamental purposes.

HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON

HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF GARDENS

I KEPOS GRECI

When the Greeks beheld the Eastern parks, they were struck and captivated, for their culture, though highly advanced in all the arts, had never produced anything comparable. One of the reasons it is argued that Ancient Greece did not create opulent gardens can be traced back to the democratic life of the polis, which would have frowned upon the development of private gardens as a proclamation of wealth and prosperity. Moreover, the Cretan-Mycenaean culture cherished flowers; indeed, from artifacts, we can infer a centrality of floral decorative motifs, as had been the case in Egyptian culture. For the Greeks, tending to the garden was primarily a feminine activity or one to be pursued during the intervals between wars. Persian influences permeated ancient Greece: by around 350 B.C., gardens adorned the Academy of Athens, and Theophrastus, considered the father of botany, is believed to have inherited Aristotle’s garden.

BOSCO DELLA RAGNAIA

San Giovanni d'Asso, Siena

Nel cuore delle Crete Senesi, poco distante da San Giovanni d’Asso – oggi parte del comune di Montalcino – si trova il Bosco della Ragnaia, un giardino boschivo ideato e realizzato a partire dal 1996 dall’artista americano Sheppard Craige, che qui ha intrecciato arte, filosofia e natura in un’opera unica nel panorama paesaggistico contemporaneo. Nonostante l’atmosfera di antichità che permea i suoi muretti in pietra, le vasche, le fontane e i viali d’ombra, il Bosco è una creazione viva e in continua trasformazione, un dialogo costante tra il gesto umano e il linguaggio della terra.

Sotto le grandi querce – Quercus robur, pubescens e cerris – si stende un tappeto di felci, licheni e muschi che accolgono motti, epigrafi e sentenze scolpite nella pietra. Alcune citano pensatori antichi, altre giocano con l’ironia e il dubbio: parole che emergono dal verde come pensieri in attesa di un lettore. Qui ogni passo invita a fermarsi, a interrogare il luogo, a cercare un senso che forse non si lascia trovare.

Tra i luoghi simbolici disseminati nel parco si incontrano l’Altare dello Scetticismo, il Centro dell’Universo, e l’Oracolo di Te Stesso – spazi di riflessione dove l’artista invita a osservare più che a comprendere, a dubitare piuttosto che a credere. Il Bosco non offre un percorso prestabilito: è un labirinto mentale e sensoriale, aperto a infinite interpretazioni.

Il giardino si estende su più livelli, con una parte superiore dedicata alla Ragnaia vera e propria – il bosco ombroso dove un tempo si tendevano reti per catturare gli uccelli – e una parte inferiore, chiamata Giardino delle Forme, dove l’arte geometrica del giardino toscano incontra la spontaneità vegetale. L’acqua, la pietra e la luce diventano strumenti poetici che accompagnano il visitatore in un cammino interiore, fatto di domande più che di risposte.

L’ingresso al Bosco è libero e gratuito, aperto durante le ore diurne. Non vi sono biglietterie né indicazioni turistiche: la visita si svolge in autonomia, nel silenzio rispettoso di un luogo che chiede contemplazione. Il parcheggio si trova poco fuori dal borgo di San Giovanni d’Asso, raggiungibile a piedi in pochi minuti.

Il Bosco della Ragnaia è più di un giardino: è un invito a sostare, ad ascoltare la voce segreta della natura e la propria. Un luogo dove l’arte si fa meditazione e la terra diventa pensiero.

Itinerari Arte & Natura| Trentino Aldo Adige

ARTE SELLA

Arte Sella è una rassegna di arte contemporanea nella natura, che si svolge in val di Sella, nel comune di Borgo Valsugana. Arte Sella è una manifestazione internazionale di arte contemporanea nata nel 1986, che si svolge all’aperto nei prati e nei boschi della Val di Sella (comune di Borgo Valsugana, provincia di Trento).

Ha avuto inizio nel 1986 ad opera di Enrico Ferrari, Emanuele Montibeller e Carlotta Strobele ed è gestita dall’omonima associazione, presieduta da Enrico Ferrari fino al 2000, poi da Laura Tomaselli, e dal marzo 2012 da Giacomo Bianchi. Nel primo periodo (1986-1996) la manifestazione era biennale e si svolgeva presso “Casa Strobele” ed il suo parco. A partire dal 1996 si è sviluppata lungo un percorso sul Monte Armentera, sempre nella Val di Sella, chiamato artenatura. Lungo un sentiero di circa 3 km sono collocate circa 25 opere.

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