There are absolutely no words or images that can capture the impressiveness of Bacalhôa Buddha Eden.

The 86 acre Park of Peace was created by José Manuel Rodrigues Berardo, a businessman, stock investor, speculator, and art collector. According to Portuguese magazine Exame, he had an estimated net worth of €598 million in 2010, making him one of the wealthiest people in Portugal. That's cool in and of itself but what he did with some of that net worth is even cooler.
When José read about the Taliban’s destruction of Afghanistan’s enormous stone Buddhas in Bamiyan in 2001, he bought a massive range of Buddhist statues, and created this oasis of art. Wow.



This is my favorite duck (Wood). How fun that he found me here.
From Buddhas, pagodas, terracotta statues and the various carefully placed sculptures which can be found throughout the gardens, it is estimated that some six thousand tons of marble and granite were used to create this monumental work of art.

Amazingly, there are six hundred hand-painted terracotta soldiers, each of them unique copies of those which were buried some 2,200 years ago. So awesome.
There were amazing faces throughout. Expressive and impressive.


We loved the African Sculpture Garden, dedicated to the Shona people of Zimbabwe, who have been hand-sculpting stone into works of art for nearly a thousand years. Pictured is an area of crated work, just waiting to be put on display. The Garden is ever changing.
The repurposed metal 'wild animal park' was a highlight.





This was my favorite piece from the Modern and Contemporary Sculpture Garden. Zadok Ben-David's Looking Back is of a human figure built of hundreds of small beings which reflects the interwoven connectedness of all that dwell in our surroundings. The chain of small figures together rely upon each other to create something larger than themselves. From a distance one can't see the individuals. It's not until you really look closely that they are seen within the whole. Poignant and so very, very awesome.

We were truly enchanted with the peace and tranquility of this unique and special place. It far exceeded anything we could have anticipated and really was the Best ART Exhibit EVER.