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The 4 corners of the world gathered in Albert-Kahn garden

The Japanese garden | Anecdotrip.com / CC-BY-NC-SA
Garden Albert-Kahn garden

Albert Kahn’s foundation

Albert was born in 1860 in Marmoutier (Alsace, Eastern France), in a rich family: his parents were merchants.

Young Albert left his home to work in Paris, at the age of 16: he became a tailor in Montmartre, then a bank employee.

He also studied in parallel, so he get a law degree. In 1898, he could open his own bank! He became rich…

And between 1898 and 1931, he started to tackle to his biggest plan: developing the peace and the fraternity between people of the world.

For this, he created foundations to develop the cooperation between human kind, he sent plenty of photographers to make films across the world…

But men’s madness soon turned up: 1929’s crash totally ruined him.

Seine prefecture owned his house in Boulogne in 1936. Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine then owned it in 1964: they created a museum, in Albert’s house, in 1986.

Today, we can discover an amazing collection, the world’s biggest one: about 4000 stereoscopic plates (black and white pictures in relief), 72000 autochromic plates (a coloured process created in 1907 by Lumière brothers)…

All this collection collected throughout the world!

Gardens

We came here for the gorgeous and amazing gardens: just come here in summer or in the beginning of autumn!

Albert created a garden in his own image, in the image of his peace ideal: gardens from the 4 corners of the world, gathered in one single place!

Two Japanese gardens, a formal garden, an orchard and a rose garden, a golden forest, a blue forest…

Come on, let’s go!

The Japanese village

A village created at the end of the 19th century.

Landscapers coming from Japan drew it! The two houses come from Asia.

We had a third one, until 1952: a 5 floors pagoda!

Albert tied strong links with Japan, especially with the Japanese ambassador in Paris and with the Imperial family: he often hosted them here...

The English garden

A big lawn and a quiet river… Look, a rocaille bridge and a traditional Norman house!

Vosges forest

3 000 square metres of mountain forest: Albert knew well that kind of landscape, he was born in Eastern France...

The golden forest

Why ″golden″? Because of the birches’ leaves turning golden in autumn...

The blue forest

Here, we have cedars from Atlas mountains and pines from Colorado: a nice evocation of Albert’s dream of peace and fraternity between people!

When America and Africa meet...

The rose garden and the orchard

Lovely arbours and fruits in summer.

A nice stroll ending by the big greenhouse: Albert’s private garden, where he came to have a rest.

The formal garden

Created at the end of the 19th century by famous French landscapers Achille and Henri Duchêne.

The second Japanese garden

Created in 1988 by the Japanese landscaper Fumiaki Takano, on the location of the former garden drew in 1908 by Albert, after a second trip in Asia.

Whoa, this one is gorgeous: we have a pond with carps quietly swimming under the water lilies...

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!