The Bakewell Ottoman Garden in St Louis, Missouri

Lecture by Anderson Bakewell

Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI), 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT

The Anglo-Turkish Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute present a lecture by Anderson Bakewell on the concept, development and execution of the Ottoman Garden in St Louis, Missouri, USA

The Bakewell Osmanlı Bahçesi, which opened in 2006 in the American city of St Louis, is the result of efforts to resurrect a distinct garden tradition equal in many ways to the better known Moghul, Persian and Moorish forms. Much admired for its beauty and novelty, it has also raised questions about ‘authenticity’ and the transplantation of cultural tradition, topics which have been brought to the fore in recent times. This lecture will reveal what was the inspiration for the concept of the garden and discuss the research, funding efforts and logistics undertaken in its 12-year development. The scale of the team of horticulturalists, historians, designers, architects and craftsmen brought together to design and construct the garden, belies its relatively small size.

Anderson Bakewell worked as a consultant musicologist for 25 years with various organisations, including the Ford Foundation, the BBC, The Greek and Near Eastern Music Society and the Maqam Society, to preserve, document and promote traditional music in Africa and Asia, including Turkey. As director of Komari (Indian Ocean Ltd) he built and operated a sailing dhow as a research and commercial venture, and latterly founded the Isle of Harris distillery in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.