Address:
Caminho da Oliveirinha, Arcozelo
4990-146 Ponte de Lima
GPS: 41º 46' 14,231" N | 8º 35' 19,139" W
Theme Arnado Park
Caminho da Oliveirinha, Arcozelo 4990-146 Ponte de Lima
41° 46’ 14,2” N | 8° 35’ 19,1” W
Caminho da Oliveirinha, Arcozelo 4990-146 Ponte de Lima
Description
This Park is an integral part of the project to enhance the banks of the River Lima and it is intended to be both cultural and recreational. The cultural component draws visitors’ attention to the history of human impact on the landscape.
This led to the idea of creating a themed garden that would provide a journey through the history of the art of the garden, the roots of which are closely connected to rural culture. Original farms buildings were reused, whilst erudite gardens from different eras were integrated into the original fields. In the botanical plant nursery, the planting has an educational aim, and there is an interesting greenhouse and pond.
The rural culture remains present through various different elements, such as vine arbours, the irrigation systems leading from the tank through channels, the traditional water wheel, the large threshing floor and the granary.
Roman Garden
The garden always played a very important role in Roman houses. The recreation here is inspired by the celebrated Casa dos Repuxos in Conímbriga the brick colonnade suggesting the idea of the peristyle surrounding a water garden and the triclinium opening onto the pool. The peristyle garden was an interior-exterior area of the Roman house that often brought nature into the interior of the house itself.
The mosaic paving in traditional Portuguese 'calçada' reflects the influence that Roman culture still has on our cultural traditions. The use of different patterns created by the Romans reflects the permanence of forms throughout history, revealing the riches of this formal structure.
Labyrinth Garden
The labyrinth has always been present as a symbol in Western culture since the legend of Knossos on the island of Crete.
The labyrinth, built in terraces, evokes the palace of Knossos with its classical geometry and offers visitors a view over the whole garden. The metallic structure adorned with jasmines (Trachelospermum jasminoides), which acts as a belvedere, encourages contemplation, relaxation and a certain well-being to which we are not insensitive, enhanced by the fragrances of the plants.The hedges are boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), traditionally used in gardens for taking well to clipping and its rusticity.
The labyrinth symbolizes the oath of wisdom along which passes the message common to all enigmas, the secret of life.Jaques Attali
Renaissance Garden
The European Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) originated in Italy and marked an important stage in the history of the human landscape, including the art of the garden which witnessed the birth of landscape architecture as we know it. Gardens began to be given a strict, geometric structure, frequently on terraces, and plants played a fundamental role in this geometric vision of space.
Water was also a fundamental presence in gardens, transmitting a sense of peace. The development of mathematics applied to hydraulics helped in the construction of sophisticated mechanisms to raise and carry water, with the creation of waterfalls and numerous forms of water features.
Sculpture also became increasingly important, and Greek mythology - through sculptures - would assume an important function in the composition of gardens. In Portugal, painted tiles began to be used in the decoration of gardens.
Baroque Garden
The Baroque garden (17th and 18th centuries) was the natural development of the Renaissance garden. The art of topiary became very popular and boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), clipped in increasingly complex ornamental shapes, was essential part of the "parterres" - the splendour of gardens in the French style.
The hydraulic system continued to be developed and is now a new key element through the shallow reflecting pool where the reflection extends the perspectives. This effect is frequently used in the gardens of Central Europe.
In a region where Baroque architecture is well represented, particularly in the manor houses of the Lima valley, this Park could not fail to include Baroque gardens, in which the dominant species is, in this case, the rose (Rosa).
Greenhouse
Botanical gardens appeared in Europe in the 16th century with the influence of the period of the Portuguese Discoveries, due to the need to acclimatize, classify and study the properties of plants brought from the new continents. The botanical plant nursery presents a systematized collection of plants that visitors can easily identify.
The garden is divided into three parts: herbaceous perennials including the grasses, divided into beds separated by grass; water plants in the pond surrounding the greenhouse; and the plants that are inside of the greenhouse, many of which are what nowadays is known as "house plants”, since they need different weather conditions to survive.
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