User:Marcy63320/Garden of Eden (Venice)

The Garden ( in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language : Giardino de Eden) of Eden is a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice villa known for its famous park, located at 137-138 of the « Fondamenta della Croce » on the island of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giudecca, the property has for a long time belonged to the landscaper Frederick Eden, who drew and gave it her name from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1884. Then, she has been buying more by the Princess Aspasia de Grèce and her daughter the Queen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Yugoslavia in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927. Between https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000, the Garden of Eden finally belonged to the austrian painter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser, who has just a few abandoned it.

History
In https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1884, the British Frederick Eden (grand-uncle of the British Prime Minister https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Eden) and his wife Caroline (sister of the famous landscaper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Jekyll) buy, on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice island of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giudecca, an area of six acres. A former outbuilding of the convent of the Sisters of Santa Croce, thereafter, the property is expanded of two acres amount when the venitian authorities adjust the island to enlarge it.

In their residence, which is now even the largest private garden of Venice, Eden's family adjust an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_landscape_garden made of statues, roses and animals. Symbol of the British presence in Venice, the Garden of Eden then, acknowledged many of figures from the world of the arts, among which https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Proust, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Sickert, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_James, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Duse and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Rolfe.

Frederick Eden pass away in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916 and his wife Caroline survives him until https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928. A year before her dying, she resells the Garden of Eden to the Princess Aspasia de Grèce ( the widow of the King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Greece), who acquires the villa thanks to the financial support of her friend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_James_Horlick,_4th_Baronet. Afterwards, the Princess lives in the villa with her daughter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Yugoslavia until https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940, date on which the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Italian_War breaks out.

Damaged during the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II, the villa is rebuilding by Aspasia when peace came back. the Garden of Eden is ranked, at this time, monumento nazionale (1945). The Princess Aspasia lived the rest of her life in the villa in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972 and the Garden of Eden, then, pass on by inheritance to her daughter, became in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944 the Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia. Fragile personality, Alexandra tried to kill herself many times in the residence and she finally resells it in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979. The new acquirer is the austrian painter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser. He abandonned the gardens and the vegetation develops itself in an uncontrolled manner. Since the Hundertwasser's death in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000, the identity of the owner or owners of the villa is unknown.

Features on literature
→ The Garden of Eden comes up in the 's novel Il fuoco (The Fire, 1900) ;

→ Also, it was mentioning by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau in the poem « Souvenir d'un soir d'automne au jardin Eden » (1909)

Internal Links

 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giudecca
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Yugoslavia
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser