Abstract / DOI
Squared Paradise – Spirituality of the Garden till the Dawn of Early Modern Times. Human existence is finite and corresponds with finite space environed by hedges and fences: the garden. As opposed to houses, gardens do not exclude nature but remain in nature. At the same time, they open space in which heaven can meet world: the paradise. Ancient high cultures in the Middle East invented the «squared paradise» hat was successfully reinterpreted by Christianity, as liturgical garden of basilicas and as monastic garden of religious houses. In High Middle Ages this paradise was further developed – into the therapeutic garden of monastic medicine, spiritual garden of mystic theology and earthly paradise for recreational purposes. The squared paradise, however, remained provisional and eventually too small for human desires, a green prison as it were that provoked a breakout in early modern era. Today, on the other hand, postmodernist urban society seems to rediscover the squared paradise as spiritual resource.