PAMPHLET 24: LOST IN PARADISE, A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PERSIAN LANDSCAPE

Edited by the Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies, ETH Zurich Contributions by Siamak Anvari, Annemarie Bucher, Fujan Fahmi, Janic Fotsch, Christophe Girot, Javad Hoseinzadeh, Azadeh Arjomand Kermani, Reihane Khorramrouei, Amin Mahan, Ali Mousavi, Mahroo Movahedi, Dunja Richter, Shirana Shahbazi, Myriam Uzor, Saskia de Wit. Gardens throughout history have elicited intangible fascination. Mystical beauty and a poetic sense for eternal longing are intrinsic to the long tradition of the Per­sian Garden. It was these values that formed the foundation for all Western gardens that have followed, even giving us the word 'paradise', the setting for the biblical Garden of Eden. Deriving from the Zoroastrian culture, the Avestan word pairidaeza simply means 'walled around'. To the outside world today, Iran's image is marked by political and cultural ambigui­ty. Yet it is in the gardens of this arid country where one can experience its Persian heritage most vividly. Lying solitary and almost untouched by time in the sparse landscape between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, the gardens still serve as places for quiet contemplation. Lost in Paradise offers different interpretations of the walled garden and aims to reconcile contemporary events with the enigmatic notion of paradise.