2010 theme: "Body and Soul" GardensI was born and bred in my younger years in the garden of France: that is Touraine.
At the heart of the garden, body and soul rejoice. It is a place full of the well-being, of "the otium", of the restfulness described by the people of antiquity, and above all "the place where you feel good". It is a space that has an impact on all the senses and is the ideal place to find peace and serenity: a space that favours contemplation and stimulation of the imagination. However, it is also the place that gives life to those plants that care for the body, and more generally medicinal herbs, aromatic plants, condiment plants… The garden creates drugs, but also ointments, perfumes, flavours... Sometimes considered to be a place of redemption from our torments, it is also a place that restores and cares for the mind. "Touching the earth" has an impact on our internal equilibrium and it has been possible to measure the power of the garden on cerebral and neurological pathologies. Physical exercise, intellectual activity, friendliness, everything in the garden works together to encourage positive energies. The garden also cares for injured landscapes, which it embellishes, restores and repairs; it even contributes to purifying nature when it has been poisoned by human beings (pesticides, various types of pollution, etc.) with depolluting and detoxifying plants. The garden cares for the soul and the body, but it also arouses passions, "body and soul" commitments in the cause of beauty, happiness and well-being. Stendahl wrote that "beauty is a promise of happiness". The garden knows how to keep this promise and give us the pleasure of contemplating it in all its invention and diversity. Nobody can be unaware any more of how the garden takes care of us, deeply influences both body and mind and so helps "care" for us and heal us in various ways. Horticultural therapy, phytotherapy, hedonistic therapy are amongst the multitude of therapeutic practices engendered by the garden. Jean-Pierre Changeux, the famous neurologist, has been appointed Chairman of the 2010 Jury. He is a trained biologist, is also the author of numerous publications on art, ethics and philosophy and in particular chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the preservation of the national artistic heritage. Around twenty gardens have been selected by the Jury from over 300 proposals that came in from all over the world. Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands are represented this year. A “free green hand” will also be given to the novelist Jean-Pierre Le Dantec, a garden expert, to the landscape architect Michel Racine, to the visual artist, Béatrice Saurel, to the artists, Anne and Patrick Poirier and to the choreographer Benjamin Millepied. With “Gardens of Light”, a truly original illumination of the Festival’s plots, the visitor will also be invited to go on a really novel nocturnal walk. The 2010 gardens provide therapy for the soul as well as the body, and are an invitation into a world of serenity and harmony.
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