MAY 8, 2009

At British Museum, Kew's Gardeners Conjure Up India

LONDON -- Founded in 1759, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, in southwest London, started out as an aristocratic showpiece. But the gardens gradually expanded into one of the world's great centers of botanical knowledge, turning England's imperial byways into conduits for field research. As part of its 250th anniversary celebrations, Kew has joined forces with Britain's other great 18th-century institution, the British Museum, and installed a special Indian garden in the museum's forecourt. Designed by Kew horticulturalists Steve Ruddy and Richard Wilford, "India Landscape" transforms 440 square meters of lawn into a concise overview of the Indian subcontinent's three main habitats: the Himalayan Mountains, the temperate woodlands of the Himalayan foothills and the humid subtropical lowlands.

The Trustees of the British Museum

The India Landscape at the British Museum.

The Himalayas are conjured up with a vertical rock garden, surrounded by pine trees and cranesbill. The temperate zone includes a Himalayan walnut tree and a blue poppy, one of the world's truly blue flowers. The subtropical regions come to life thanks to a lotus filled pond, and a mature banyan tree. The winding path, in the shadow of the British Museum's neoclassical façade, has a dense but spacious quality, and the gardeners have somehow managed to create a sense of north-south travel as we make our way from barren rocks to the spidery lushness of the banyan.

India has special significance to Kew. The gardens' famed 19th-century director Joseph Hooker (1817-1911) made a journey to India, where he catalogued the subcontinent's plant life in a major work, "Flora Indica," which is still a standard reference book on the subject. Hooker helped shape modern English garden tastes with many of the plants he brought back, and perhaps the greatest surprise of "India Landscape" is to find a typically English rhododendron bush in its native Indian habitat.

—J.S. Marcus

Until Sept. 28

www.britishmuseum.org

文化遊﹕倫敦沐浴於印度花園中

2009-06-03

【明報專訊】英國大英博物館為慶祝Kew Garden今年250周年紀念，由即日至9月27日，大英博物館與Kew Garden合作，在大英博物館內建造一個別開生面的印度花園。這個名為「Indian Landscape」的展覽在Museum forecourt的西邊草坪（West Lawn）舉行，他們挑選印度最富代表性的植物，並且按地理，由南至北逐一展出。讓你在英國陽光下，沐浴印度香氣中。

賞宮廷畫

與此同時，即日至8月23日，博物館的35號房間展出印度王室宮廷畫。這批畫作由Mehrangarh Museum Trust借出，畫功精美，展示了印度17至19世紀的宮廷美學，畫作更是首次在歐洲公開展覽，機會難能可貴。

Indian Landscape﹕免費入場

Garden and Cosmos﹕The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur 8英鎊（約102港元）

詳情瀏覽﹕http://www.britishmuseum.org
文﹕黃潔玲、甄俊宇