Rio de Janeiro, July 28 (AP) Globally renowned for its natural beauty, Rio de Janeiro received a new international glory on Tuesday as UNESCO added the former home of landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx to its list of World Heritage Sites .
The Sitio Burle Marque in western Rio contains more than 3,500 species of plants native to Rio and is considered a laboratory for botanical and landscape experimentation.
The recognition was granted during the UNESCO Heritage Committee meeting in China. The site was designated a Cultural Landscape, a category that celebrates places that allow for interaction between the environment and the people.
“The garden is one of the key features that define Burle Marx’s landscape gardens and have influenced the development of modern gardens on an international scale,” UNESCO said in a statement.
“The garden is characterized by sinuous forms, exuberant mass plantings, architectural plant arrangements, dramatic color contrasts, the use of tropical plants, and the inclusion of elements of traditional folk culture.” The site named for Burle Marx was his home until 1985, when he donated it to the federal government. He has been recognized as one of the most important landscape artists of the 20th century and is credited with creating the concept of the modern tropical garden.
On the property, which is open to visitors, tropical and semi-tropical plants coexist with the native Atlantic Forest and 3,000 pieces of pre-Columbian and modern art.
“(This recognition) is the result of a process that was long and very difficult, but also rewarding,” said Claudia Pinheiro Storino, director of Sitio Burle Marx.
“It was a great effort from a lot of people.” Burle Marx carried out other projects in other Brazilian cities as well as abroad, including Miami and Buenos Aires, before dying in 1994. The Burle Marx site is considered one of the artist’s most important works.
It is the 23rd Brazilian place recognized in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. (AP) CPS
(This story is published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Headline or body have not been edited by ABP Live.)
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