Guided tour by Mario Serviable Thursday November 16 at 12:30 p.m. or 17:00 p.m.

Free, on registration :

This exhibition aims to tell the story of the special relationship that Reunion Island and the people of Reunion Island have with flowers and gardens. It is based on the anthropological foundations which structure and color our beliefs, since all shared geneses. It is also based on the island's motto, Florebo quocumque fairer (I will flower wherever I am planted), illuminating the island's coat of arms developed and designed in 1925 by Emile Merwart and Laure Ferrando. It is part of the events surrounding the tribute to the botanist Philibert Commerson. It has a dual scientific and artistic character, mobilizing the sources of Belles-Lettres and the dexterity of visual artists. Its subtitle is borrowed from the Reunion poet Leconte de Lisle and the whole belongs to the particular genre of Popular Education.

If the Garden is located in the insularity of a cramped and layered tropical space, it nevertheless has a broader scope, touching on the universal, because it is open to the beliefs of humanity. Over nearly four centuries, the individual work of thousands of cuttings, grafting and layering enthusiasts will be discussed, as well as the public work of reasoned naturalization. The gaze will dwell on the Garden as a place of exaltation of the promises; the view will broaden on the architectural and stylistic creation strategies in order to give a new dynamic tone to nature in an aestheticized landscape.

Mario Serviable, geographer

To be seen at the BU Saint-Denis Droit-Lettres from October 23 to December 16, 2023, Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 19:00 p.m. and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – Free entry