Accueil > Trouvez un jardin > Jardin médiéval de la Commanderie d'Arville

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Jardin médiéval de la Commanderie d'Arville

Type :

  • Medieval garden
  • Recent creation
  • Jardins Passions en Val de Loire
  • Teaching animations
  • Movies
  • partly disabled access (contact the Garden)

Over the last 2O years, a great many historical sites, especially medieval ones, have been keen to revive their lost gardens. As in the Commanderie d’Arville, the garden can lead to a discovery of the place, its architecture and of course present the botanical elements relevant to the life at the Commanderie. A Vendôme-style labyrinth is under construction by the medieval garden. The garden at Arville is divided into 4 square beds with medicinal plants, kitchen plants, field plants and other useful plants. The garden is designed to explain a garden’s various functions and the uses of its many plants, cultivated or wild. It is not an attempt at historical restitution. The composition of the four square beds symbolises the four elements: water, earth, fire and air. The paths draw the symbol of the Christian cross. Symbolically, the garden also evokes the garden of Eden and its avenues are an evocation of the arms of the rivers of Paradise. Amongst the many plants in the garden is the one that inspired the cross of Malta. The low hedges were used to protect cultures against domestic or wild animals and were then usually laid in a technique called “plessis”. Inside each square, the parterres are bordered with flint stones, present in abundance on the local fields and traditionally picked out to aid cultivation. This usage continues today.