Garden and Paradise

A “riyad” is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden. The word “riyad” comes from the Arabian term for garden.

I found this interesting passage about Persian gardens in Susha Guppy’s captivating book, The Blindfold Horse, Memories of a Persian Childhood:

“In most European languages, the words “garden” and “paradise” are related to the ancient Persian word “paradaiza”, meaning ‘the Lord’s Enclosure’. In Persia, where rainfall is limited to a short season and water is always scarce, making a garden traditionally meant creating a personal paradise, a reflection on earth of the Garden of Eden. It expressed the soul’s aspiration to eternal peace and beauty. Persian rugs, with their stylised birds and plants, were originally a representation of Paradise, and even the Flying Carpet of fairy tales were related to the longing for return to Eden.
The Persian gardener’s aim was to produce an atmosphere of safa, which means “serenity”, but has connotations of coolness, relief and beauty …”

La fontaine du Riyad el Mezouar