We parked on Parkgate Avenue off East Boulevard, and Kent and Brynne with Gus led us off to see the last of the Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park.
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| Italian Cultural Garden (opened 1930 on the 2000th anniversary of Virgil's death; dedicated 1941) |
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| Bust of Virgil, poet (2008 replacement of 1930) atop a column from the Roman Forum, a gift from the Mussolini government |
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| Chunk of Monte Grappa in memory of the Ohio's 332nd Regiment of Infantry that fought in WWI |
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| Dante, poet & philiosopher (2012 by Sandro Bonaiuto) with a base featuring excerpts from each of the 3 volumes of The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) |
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| Renaissance plaza and parapet with a marble fountain, a replica from the Villa Medici in Rome |
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| Later a peek off the parapet to see Miss Teen Ohio Latina at a photo shoot |
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| Lower level shell fountain with relief medallions; the Italian Cultural Garden was built largely from WPA funds and labor |
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| Arts and Science medallions of Giuseppe Verdi (operatic composer), Leonardo da Vinci (artist and inventor), and Guglielmo Marconi (inventor in radio technology, Nobel Prize in Physics) |
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| Arts and Letters medallions of Giotto di Bondone (artist), Michelangelo (artist, poet), and Petrarca/Petrarch (poet and scholar) |
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| Panorama of lower level of the Italian Cultural Garden |
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| Slovak Cultural Garden (1932, re-dedicated 1934 and 1939) |
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| As seen across a meadow of Erigeron sp/Fleabane flowers |
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| Stefan Furdek, Catholic priest, poet and writer; the bust was re-installed in 2010 after having been stolen in 2007 and recovered |
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| General Milan R Stefanik Memorial to Slovakia's greatest national hero; philosopher, scholar, WWI pilot, supporter of independent Czechoslovakia and its 1st Minister of Defense; first located in Wade Park in 1924 then moved here in 2013 |
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| Jan Kollar, Lutheran minister, poet and defender of the Slovak language; the 1957 replacement bust was re-installed in 2010 after having been stolen in 2007 and recovered |
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| Nature taking over a bench |
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| Lower Rusin Cultural Garden (1939), with base of missing 1952 bust of Alexander Duchnovich |
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| Alexander Duchnovich (2012 replacement), Catholic priest, poet, patriot, author of the Rusin National Anthem |
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| Rusin Cultural Garden sign; a woman working in the garden gave us a brochure on the Carpatho-Rusins, a nationality rather than a nation who live in the Carpathian Mountains spread across Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania |
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| Czech Cultural Garden, the Eagle Pillar (1935 by Frank Jirouch) with eagles holding the Czech shield |
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| Czech Cultural Garden (1935, designed by B Ashburton Tripp and Maurice Cornell) |
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| Frantisek Palacky (1935 by Frank Jirouch), Bohemian historian and politician |
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| Jindrich Simon Baar (1935 by Jirouch), Catholic priest and novelist in the "country-prose" style |
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| Tomas G Masaryk (1961 by Jirouch), philosopher and sociologist, founder and first president of Czechoslovakia |
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| Garden Wall (1935 by Jirouch) with a frieze depicting the history of the migration of Czechs to the United States |
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| First section of the frieze |
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| Bedrich Smetana (1935 by Jirouch), composer |
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| Middle section of the frieze by Jirouch |
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| Bozena Nemcova (2010, by Paul Burik to replace the missing 1935 bust by Jirouch), writer |
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| Last section of the frieze, and the Slovak National Anthem is inscribed on the wall (even though the Slovaks had their own Cultural Garden dedicated in 1932) |
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| Jan Amos Komensky (1935 by Jirouch), educator and writer, early proponent of universal education and father of modern education; note the solar panel which powers the only night lighting in any of the cultural gardens) |
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| One of two Tilia sp/Linden trees planted by Czechoslovakian President Eduard Benes in 1939 |
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| Antonin Leopold Dvorak (1935 by Jirouch), Bohemian composer |
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| Karel Havlicek Borovsky (1935? by Jirouch), Czech writer, journalist, politician |
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| Lion Pillar (1935 by Jirouch) with the Czech version of inscription on the Eagle Pillar |
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| Slovenian Cultural Garden (1938 as the Yugoslav Cultural Garden, re-dedicated in 1991 as the Slovenian Garden) |
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| Circular fountain in a large paved court |
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Ivan Cankar (2010 by Teodor Stroie,
replacement of missing 1944 bas relief),
Slovene writer and political activist
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| He looks so tired... |
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| Frederic Baraga (2001 by Robert J Nuti, replacement of 1935 bust), Catholic missionary who studied Native American languages, wrote the first book in Ottawa, and the first dictionary in Ojibway/Chippewa |
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| Ivan Zorman (2012 fiberglass replacement of 1959 bust, and already needs replacing!), Slovene poet and composer who graduated from the Western Reserve University in Cleveland |
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| Simon Gregorcic (replacement of 1944 bas relief), Catholic priest, writer and poet; along with a quote about uniting Slovenians, and three symbols representing Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia |
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| View of Slovenian Cultural Garden from Doan Brook |
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| Neglected bench at the Polish Cultural Garden |
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| Polish Cultural Garden (1934) |
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| Nicolaus Copernicus (1996 replica of 1961 original by Frank Jirouch), astronomer of the heliocentric (sun-centered) solar system theory |
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| Maria Sklodowska Curie (2009 replacement), Polish-French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry |
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| Fryderyk Chopin (2010 replacement of original by Frank Jirouch), composer |
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| Henryk Sienkiewicz (2001 replacement), writer, Nobel Prize for Literature |
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| Chopin court with added flowers |
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| Ignacy Jan Paderewski (2011 by Michael Deming as replacement of 1947 original by Amos Mazzoline), composer and spokesperson for Polish indepemdence |
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| A missing fountain from 1953 for which children of St Casimir Parish in Cleveland collected pennies to build |
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| Adam Mickiewicz (2013 replacement), poet |
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| African-American Cultural Garden (1977, still in process) |
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| Garden laid out as an ankh symbol of life |
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| Doorway of No Return |
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| Fountain symbolizing the waters of the Atlantic Ocean |
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| Granite walls symbolizing the Slave Passage |
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| Looking down on "the future" |
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| Ukrainian Cultural Garden (1940) |
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| Plaza of stone and brick |
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| Ivan Franko (1940, by Oleksander Archipenko), poet and writer |
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| Stone and wrought-iron gateway |
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| Lesya Ukrainka (1961), poet and foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature |
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| Her real name was Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka |
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| St Vladimir/Volodymyr the Great (1940, by Oleksander Archipenko), Prince of Kiev who converted to Christianity in 988 |
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| Taras Shevchenko (1940, by Oleksander Archipenko), poet, teacher, artist |
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| Shevchenko court |
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| Lithuanian Cultural Garden (1936, designed by Professor Dubinecras in Lithuania), built on three levels to symbolize three moments in Lithuanian history |
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| The lowest level represents Lithuania's rebirth after World War I with a bust of Dr Jonas Basanavicius (1936 replica of original by Jonas Zikaras in Lithuania), physician and folklorist celebrating national identity |
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| The middle level represents the unification of Lithuania with a replica of the Pillars of Gediminas, a symbol of Lithuania |
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| Climbing to the top level representing Lithuania's pagan past and conversion to Christianity |
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| Fountain of Duchess Birutė, pagan priestess |
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| Vincas Kudirka (1938 replica of original by Jonas Zikaras in Lithuania), physician and poet, author of the Lithuanian National Anthem |
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| Maciulis Maironis (2009 replacement of 1961 original), Catholic priest and poet |
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| Greek Cultural Garden (1940, designed by Maurice Cornell), with Lombardy poplars to give the impression of cypresses |
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| Doric columns and wall symbolizing the Parthenon in Athens |
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| Reflecting pool |
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| The wall is inscribed with 34 names of prominent Greek artists, writers, philosophers, and scientists |
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| Behind the wall is Poet's Bench flanked by urns |
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| American Legion Peace Garden of Nations (1936) |
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| Beneath the tablet in front is soil from twenty-eight nations to symbolize the united effort of their people to better understanding |
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| The woman's bust represents Peace (1936 by Henry Herring in Tennessee marble) |
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