Vilnius is opening a new expanded Japanese Garden, the city’s municipality said on Friday.
The garden in the Šnipiškės has an avenue of 20 Japanese cherry trees, in addition to nearly 700 new plants and old mature trees.
According to the municipality, the new plants separate the garden from the busy intersection of Livivo, Linkmenos and Geležinio Vilko Streets.
“We have reclaimed a space for Vilnius residents that a few years ago was almost impassable. It is obvious that now this place will be discovered not only by those looking for the shortest connections between the centre and the northern part of the city,” outgoing Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius is quoted in the press release.
According to the newly elected mayor Valdas Benkunskas, the new square has been designed according to the rules of a traditional Japanese garden.
The garden has a playground, streetlights, CCTV cameras, many benches, drinking water fountains. Information boards will help visitors identify the elements of a traditional Japanese garden, such as a Fuji volcano hill, huge stones, dry rivers, etc.
The pond at the centre of the five-hectare Japanese Garden can be viewed not only from a distance, but also by walking across a pontoon bridge.
The Japanese Garden can be visited from Friday, but the opening ceremony is scheduled for April 29. In Japan, it is the Day of Greenery, when people thank deities for giving life to the earth.
Work on the Japanese Garden started at the end of 2020 and the project is worth around 4 million euros, financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
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