In Keep Our World Green, author Frieda Wishinsky examines parks, gardens and public green spaces throughout history and shares why it’s important to protect them for future generations. Read on to learn more about Frieda Wishinsky’s trips to the Albert Kahn Museum and Garden in Paris.
In 2014 I discovered amazing gardens in the outskirts of Paris, created by French banker Albert Kahn at the end of the 1800s. Kahn wanted his green spaces to reflect diverse cultures and traditions around the world. He also hired world-class photographers to travel and take pictures. His aim was to establish a visual record of different communities before industrialization changed places and lives.
The gardens and museum I visited in 2014 were beautiful and serene, but the exhibits of the photos were described briefly and only in French. I don’t speak or read French, so although I admired the photos I couldn’t read the descriptions. Despite that, I wanted to honor the gardens, images and stories Kahn and his team created, so I included them in my new nonfiction book Keep Our World Green.
This May, over ten years after my first visit, I returned to the refurbished museum and gardens. The building and gardens had been closed for six years. As I stepped out of the bus, I wondered if the museum and gardens would be starkly modern or if they had kept their timeless quality.
To my delight, they did both.
The museum is now housed in a sleek modern building. The interior, though modern too and technologically up to date, captures and combines the past and the present. The descriptions are now in French and English and tell wonderful stories of people and places from long ago.
And the gardens—wow! They were even more enchanting than before. Gorgeous green spaces flowed seamlessly from one magical garden to another.
There were other people enjoying the gardens that spring day, and I could hear people speaking in different languages. But it didn’t feel crowded, and I didn’t feel rushed. I felt enveloped by beauty.
Best of all, the busy world of Paris felt far away although it was right outside the doors of the museum and gardens. In contrast to my experience in Monet’s heavily touristed gardens in Giverny, I felt like I was walking through secret gardens.
Frieda Wishinsky is the internationally award-winning author of over 80 picture books, novels and nonfiction. Frieda loves exploring new ideas and sharing the writing process with writers and readers of all ages. Her books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, French, Chinese and Korean. Frieda lives in Toronto and enjoys visiting parks, gardens and green spaces everywhere.