Yesterday morning, before appetizers, turkey, every kind of side dish imaginable, dinner with great friends, too many slices of pie and a very satisfying food coma, we took in one of DC's favorite traditions - the
holiday exhibit at the National Botanic Garden. We have never experienced this truly incredible display, but plan to go every year from now on when we are in DC for the holidays. It was that good!
The artist uses plant materials to replicate major DC landmarks (basically all the buildings on the US Mall, including some Smithsonian museums) and then creates an entire room of buildings in a chosen theme. This year's them was famous structures around the world. Besides those represented below, we also saw replicas of Tikal, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Petra, the Sphinx, Stone Statues of Easter Island, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Circling the buildings is a series of trains which makes the exhibit fun for the whole family.
Click on the pictures below so you can see the building up close, the attention to detail is astonishing. Each of these replicas took hundreds of hours to complete and when you consider they are constructed exclusively from plant life it is impossible to be anything but impressed.
I think we may have to visit this exhibit 1 or 2 or 7 more times before it closes. Can't wait, already, to find out what next year's theme will be!
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| The United States Capitol |
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| The Great Wall in China |
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| The Taj Mahal |
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| The Library of Congress Jefferson Building |
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| The Eiffel Tour |
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| Neuenschwander Castle |
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| The Hagia Sophia |
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| Machu Picchu |
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| Us and the White Heron Castle |
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| My 2 goofy boys and the enormous Christmas tree |
4 comments:
Love it! Thanks so much for sharing the pictures.
Those are truly incredible. Does the fact that they are made of plant materials mean that they will rot? I am guessing they preserve them somehow...
Very cool! Though I must say that the Machu Picchu rendition doesn't seem to be very accurate. Happy Thanksgiving!
So cool! Thanks for posting this. I can't wait to check it out next year when we are in DC.
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