The oriental garden with around 35 hectares of land was created as a reaction to the destruction of the Buddhas of Banyan, in which one of the greatest acts of cultural barbarity took place, erasing masterpieces of late-period Gandhara art.
From Buddhas, pagodas, terracotta statues and the various carefully-placed sculptures which can be found throughout the gardens, it is estimated that some six thousand tons of marble and granite were used to create this monumental work of art.
The central staircase is the focal point of the garden, where the golden Buddhas offer you a calm welcome.
At the central lake, KOI (Japanese carp) fish can be seen, and sculpted dragons rise out of the water. There is also the opportunity to see the six hundred hand-painted terracotta soldiers, each of them unique copies of those which were buried some 2,200 years ago.
The Modern and Contemporary Sculpture Garden provides a space in nature to appreciate modern art within a tranquil set¬ting. Nestled within the plants and trees are monumental works selected from the Berardo Collection by various renowned artists such as Alexander Calder, Fernando Botero, Tony Cragg, Lynn Chadwick, Allen Jones and many others. This open-air gallery has works being introduced and replaced on a regular basis giving the visitor something new and interesting to see.
The African Sculpture Garden is dedicated to the Shona people of Zimbabwe who have been hand-sculpting stone into works of art for nearly a thousand years. The Shona believe in ancestral spirits known as "Vadzimu". In their sculptures they demonstrate the unity be¬tween these two worlds, the physical and the spiritual. These incredible stone carvers hold firm to the belief that every stone has a life spirit and it is that ‘life spirit' that influences what sculp¬ture that stone will become. It is the artist's job to "release the spirit from the stone". There are over 200 sculptures on display surrounded by the shade of a 1000 palms.
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