The celebration of the writers of Gwynedd: Parc Glynllifon

Abstract

The celebration of the writers of Gwynedd is a rare and unusual essay in the joining of twentieth-century landscape design with the idea of commemoration and celebration. In the context of considering the restoration of the gardens and parks of Wales, Parc Glynllifon stands out as an example where the decision to restore many of the historic features of the Parc has already been made. However, it is also being treated as a living space in which to initiate a creative experiment in late-twentieth-century collaboration between sculpture and landscape architecture. While acknowledging and often directly referring to the framework of ideas which influenced the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century development of the Parc, the new work is based on contemporary understanding of the landscape and its cultural meanings. The public purpose of the recent plans, contrasting with the essentially private nature of the original work, also challenges the tradition that it is through aristocratic ownership that such land gains its enhancement and philosophical purpose.