THE GARDENS
DISCOVER
The Erasmus House gardens date from different periods. The orchards, planted at the beginning of the XXth century, were laid out as a garden by the architect Charles Van Elst and this was the setting for the Biennials of Open Air Sculpture in Belgium (1946-1966).
A garden of simples
In 1987, the landscape gardener René Pechère created a garden of medicinal plants. In this garden, inspired by the medieval enclosed garden and a genuine botanical portrait of the Humanist, are cultivated about a hundred plants known to XVIth century doctors.
A philosophical garden
In the year 2000, the landscape architect Benoit Fondu designed a philosophical garden.
This garden lies beyond the garden of medicinal plants and takes its inspiration from The Religious Banquet, written by the Humanist following his stay in Anderlecht (1521). A series of cartographic flowerbeds have been laid out, in which the visitor can admire the plants and flowers encountered by Erasmus on his many journeys.
This garden also exhibits works created by contemporary artists such as Catherine Beaugrand, Marie-Jo Lafontaine, Perejaume and Bob Verschueren. The furniture and signs were produced by Pierre Portier.
Festina lente
More haste, less speed
Erasmus, Adagium n°1001 (II, I, 1)
