The ''Garden of Cosmic Speculation'' is a 30 acre (12

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

)

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...

created by landscape architect and theorist

Charles Jencks Charles Alexander Jencks (21 June 1939 – 13 October 2019) was an American cultural theorist, landscape designer, architectural historian, and co-founder of the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres. He published over thirty books and became famous i ...

at his home, Portrack House, in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Like much of Jencks' work, the garden is inspired by modern

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

History

Features

The garden is inspired by science and mathematics, with sculptures and landscaping on these themes, such as black holes and

fractals In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as illus ...

. The garden is not abundant with plants, but sets mathematical formulae and scientific phenomena in a setting which elegantly combines natural features and artificial symmetry and curves. It is probably unique among gardens, drawing comparisons with a similarly abstract garden in Scotland, Little Sparta.

Access

The garden is private but usually opens for only five hours on one day each year for 1500 ticket holders through the Scotland's Gardens programme and raises money for

Maggie's Centres Maggie's centres are a network of drop-in centres across the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, which aim to help anyone who has been affected by cancer. They are not intended as a replacement for conventional cancer therapy, but as a caring enviro ...

, a cancer care charity named for

Maggie Keswick Jencks Margaret Keswick Jencks (10 October 1941 – 8 July 1995) was a Scottish writer, artist and garden designer who co-founded Maggie's Centres with her husband Charles Jencks. Early life Margaret Keswick was born at Cowhill Tower near Holywood in ...

, the late wife of Charles Jencks.

Depiction in music

The garden is the subject of an orchestral composition by American composer, Michael Gandolfi, which he composed for a joint commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

. The piece was subsequently recorded by the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing the same name date b ...

conducted by

Robert Spano Robert Spano ( ; born 7 May 1961, Conneaut, Ohio) is an American conductorDavidson, Justin. "CLASSICAL MUSIC: Looking for Magic: Mixing visuals and language into a performance is just part of conductor Robert Spano's pursuit of orchestral risk" ...

, and nominated for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" at the

2009 Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

In literature

Louise Penny Louise Penny is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centred on the work of francophone Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny's first career was as a radio broadcaster for the ...

uses ''The Garden of Cosmic Speculation'' as an important plot device in her tenth

Inspector Gamache Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is the main character in a series of mystery novels written by Canadian author Louise Penny. The series is set around the life of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force f ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

, ''The Long Way Home'' (St. Martin Press, 2014). Cameron Jace makes creative use of ''The Garden of Cosmic Speculation'' in his fictional novel titled ''Circus'', which is the third installment of his ''Insanity'' series. In the book, Jace uses many facts when referring to 'public' knowledge of the garden (per character conversation), but changed the name of the designer to better fit into the story's plot line.

References

External links

Charles Jencks website'Cosmic Speculation' Garden - 20 Photos''The Garden of Cosmic Speculation'' at Amazon BooksScotland's Gardens Scheme
Gardens in Dumfries and Galloway Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in the United Kingdom Mathematical artworks Land art {{UK-sculpture-stub