10 most unusual parks in the world

Nature is the best artist, but sometimes man interferes with her plans, and thanks to such a union, the most amazing places appear. We offer you a selection of the most unusual parks in the world.

1. Park of 200 Buddhas, Laos

The Park of 200 Buddhas was created relatively recently by one of the religious leaders of Laos, Boonlya Sulitat. The work took a lot of time, and Sulitat himself was never able to finish it, because he went crazy. However, the park is amazing: in a relatively small area, more than 200 sculptures of Buddhas, snakes, gods and heroes of Hindu and Buddhist mythology are collected. Thanks to a carefully thought-out layout, the visitor can get close to each stone statue, study all the features of the carving, or, if he wants, peer at the stone faces from afar. The amazing thing is that each hero carved in stone has his own facial expression. Absolutely all the statues are worked out to the smallest detail: scales on snake bodies, folds on the clothes of heroes, attributes, faces... The height of some statues reaches 20 m, and some do not exceed the height of a five-year-old child.

The park is located just five kilometers from Nong Khai town and can be easily reached by bicycle or even on foot if desired. In addition to statues, it has picturesque ponds, manicured flower beds, and a glass sphere open to visitors, where the embalmed body of the park’s creator, Bunlya Sulitat, rests.

2. Green Lake, Austria

This park, located in the Austrian town of Tragoess, is surprising primarily because in winter it is an ordinary park with flower beds, alleys, and groves. People come here to sit on comfortable benches, have a picnic and admire the stunning views of the mountains and the lake, the water of which has an unusual green tint. But in summer the lake overflows, and the water level in it rises from two meters to ten. Then the park is flooded and completely hidden under water.

And then divers come here from all over the world. Perhaps this is the only place in the world where you can see the familiar world under water. All plants, park paths and benches remain in their place, and you swim past them with scuba gear. Small fish swim among the terrestrial vegetation in the crystal clear water. And this continues until winter comes again.

3. Sinners Park, Thailand

The park is not recommended for people with unstable mental health. The fact is that the Park of Sinners on the territory of a Buddhist temple 40 km from Bangkok is filled with sculptures of people pierced with spears, hanged, eaten by mythical animals and died in other, no less terrible ways - a sort of visual demonstration of what “hell on earth” could look like " In addition, from speakers installed throughout the park, muffled psychedelic music and a creepy voice are constantly heard, telling about various horrors, torture and the like - fortunately, in Thai.

By the way, Thais often come here with children, apparently for educational purposes. But we would not recommend bringing a child to such a place. And adults should visit such a park only if they have either a strong psyche or a specific sense of humor.

4. Space Thought Park, Scotland

According to the plan of the park's creators, husband and wife Charles Jencks and Maggie Cheswick, this place should give visitors an idea of the Universe and man's place in it, as well as the fact that all modern science is nothing more than a step in the process of learning something completely extraordinary. There are no usual flower beds or convenient paths in the park. But there are completely futuristic objects like unusually shaped artificial hills, bridges, and stairs. Everything is so harmonious that aluminum sculptures of the most bizarre shape fit perfectly into the surrounding landscape.

The visitor can even fall into a “black hole” or find himself in a Klein bottle, ponder complex mathematical formulas or wander inside fractals. From a bird's eye view, all the artificial objects of the park present a complete picture. This is one of those amazing man-made places on planet Earth that are definitely worth visiting.

5. Museum of Creation, USA

This park was primarily created to show people that the creation of the Earth by God (as described in the Bible) in no way contradicts the theory of evolution. The visitor is presented with giant moving figures of dinosaurs adjacent to a “reconstruction” of the huge Noah’s Ark. Behind glass cases, bones of prehistoric animals and biblical artifacts lie nearby. Park employees claim that the existence of dinosaurs does not contradict the Bible - God could have created them in the same way as all other animals, but for some reason they did not survive the Great Flood.

Regardless of your religious beliefs, the park is undoubtedly worth a visit. The fact is that most dinosaur bones and reconstructed skeletons are genuine archaeological finds. And the idea of combining biblical history with science is quite interesting in itself.

6. Keukenhof Flower Park, Netherlands

Keukenhof is famous throughout the world primarily due to the huge fields of tulips growing on its territory. More than 100 varieties of these flowers grow on 32 hectares. Of course, besides tulips, other flowers grow in the park: lilacs, orchids, roses, lilies. In the spring, more than 800 thousand tourists come to the park - the fact is that due to the “fastidiousness” of tulips, the park is open only from March to May.

Every year at the end of April, the park hosts a Flower Parade: huge floats made entirely of plants move through the streets of Lissa.

7. Francisco Alvarado Park, Costa Rica

This park is a real miracle of landscape design. Walking along its paths, you will see elephants, monkeys and other animals made from living cypress. But the main thing in the park is a mystical labyrinth of living plants: countless green arches hang over visitors, intricately intertwined paths lie under their feet, and along the way there will be many surprises - just the giant figure of a sleeping woman, whose body and face are carved from moss-covered stones .

8. Jurong Bird Park, Singapore

Birds from all over the world are collected in Jaurong. Most of the park's feathered inhabitants are, of course, birds from Southeast Asia, but there are also many species from Europe, America and Africa. The main feature of the park is that visitors have the illusion that the birds live in the wild - there are no aviaries or cages to be found in the park. For each group of birds, conditions have been created that imitate its natural habitat: for example, an air conditioning system has been made for penguins, and a large artificial pond has been installed for flamingos.

What visitors love most is visiting the parrot aviary - 110 species of these bright, intelligent birds live here. No less interesting is the pavilion with an artificial waterfall, where 1,500 species of birds from different parts of the world live. You will be able to watch their lives in real time, how the birds feed, sleep, and raise their offspring. But you can’t feed them - park staff warn that this can negatively affect the birds’ health.

9. Kingdom of the Dwarfs, China

In truth, it's not really a park. Rather, the Dwarf Kingdom can be called a village where only dwarves live. The park has its own school, hospital, and shops. But from time to time the doors of the village open to visitors, and the dwarfs dress up in fairy-tale costumes and conduct tours of their homes for those interested. The houses, by the way, are very interesting, made in the shape of myceliums or trees. All park staff are made up exclusively of its residents.

From the point of view of public morality, the park raises some doubts among both Europeans and Chinese. But, one way or another, the place is popular, and the Chinese authorities are in no hurry to lose a good source of income.

10. Chess Park, Japan

In the Japanese city of Osaka, on the banks of one of the canals there is a park dedicated to board games. Paths, tables, children's slides and all other objects are made in a chess theme. Of course, in the park you can find chessboards, tables for playing backgammon, and boards for playing Go or checkers. The park is not very popular among tourists, but it is very loved by local residents, who often come here with children.

The park is also surprising in that the creators did not have much money, so all the objects are made of cheap and environmentally friendly materials such as pressed wood and cardboard. If you find yourself in Japan, stop by, you won’t regret it, because the Chess Park is an excellent example of how you can create an interesting and useful place for recreation right within the city.