Rumi Gardens, Global Project

The poet Rumi, also known as the Maulana, provided the world with timelessly inspiring images and words of hope, peace and tolerance. Many of his poems reference trees, gardens and flowers. ARCH International envisions a worldwide collection of Rumi Gardens, which we believe can be anywhere: in a quiet meditative corner of a college campus, in a hospital garden to encourage recovery, as a guerrilla garden in a run-down urban landscape, and even on the blast walls of embattled cities. Help us plant, paint, and imagine gardens wherever people need a moment of beauty and peace.

ARCH’s first Rumi Gardens are in Afghanistan, where the poet was born. Rumi Gardens are an irreplaceable part of traditional Afghanistan culture. Our Kabul Campus garden, incorporating rock elements from the country’s trademark stone lapis lazuli as well as murals of flowers and words that “bloom” all year around in paint and mosaic, will be a peaceful retreat with educational features. Cost: TBA.

Meanwhile the second installation will bring moments of reflection to the volatile, dusty streets of Kabul, through Rumi poems and flowers spray-painted on blast walls in the city. For this we are collaborating with the amazing street artists of Kabul, ArtLords This project will include the creation of spraypaint templates that can be used by other groups in other cities. Cost for material and labor: $3,600

Jalaluddin Rumi, also known as the Maulana (the teacher or master), was born at the beginning of the 13th century in Balkh, Afghanistan. Today, Rumi is famous around the world, admired and loved for the beautiful images conjured by his words and for the advanced spiritual values his writing espouses. His message of tolerance, of overcoming the boundaries of geography and culture and sectarian division and religion, was ahead of its time and is sorely needed today.

From Afghans and other Central Asians to Iranians to Turks, this “native son” is a great source of pride and inspiration. At the same time his books, amazingly, centuries later and continents away, sell more copies in the United States than those of any other single poet, making him into a genuine cultural bridge.

Our Rumi Gardens follow the tradition of poetry gardens elsewhere, such as the Shakespeare Gardens in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and elsewhere, the Garden of Monet at Giverny near Paris or the Musalla Gardens in Shiraz. A Rumi Garden will feature the flowers and trees celebrated in his poetry – pomegranate flowers, cypress trees, sugarcane, and of course roses (and their thorns!) His verses, on plaques and benches, will invite the visitor to reflect on his message.

The prototype garden is slated to be established on the campus of Kabul University, commencing next spring. We hope to raise enough funds to include a teahouse that can serve as a venue for educational lectures and events, and as an information center for visitors. We envision a steady stream of visits by school children, and will provide materials for teachers who bring their class.

This follows the tradition of poetry gardens elsewhere, such as the Shakespeare Garden in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden or the Garden of Monet at Giverny near Paris. A Rumi Garden will feature the flowers and trees celebrated in Rumi’s poetry – pomegranate flowers, cypress trees, sugarcane, and of course roses (and their thorns!) His verses, on plaques and benches, will invite the visitor to reflect on his words and images.

A prototype garden is slated to be established on the campus of Kabul University, commencing next spring. We hope to raise enough funds to include a teahouse that can serve as a venue for educational lectures and events, and as an information center for visitors. We envision a steady stream of visits by school children, and will provide materials for teachers who bring their class.