Festival des Jardins Métissés

The Festival des Jardins Métissés: When Art Dialogues with Nature

Nestled in the upper Thur valley, at the foot of the Vosges mountains, the Parc de Wesserling is the largest Historic Monument-listed park in Alsace. Every year, from June to October, it hosts the Festival des Jardins Métissés, a unique event that combines contemporary landscape design, art, and industrial textile heritage in an enchanting setting.

Breathtaking Ephemeral Gardens

The festival's concept is as simple as it is poetic: each edition invites teams of landscapers, artists, architects, and students to design ephemeral gardens around a theme renewed each year. The creations, which are artistic, playful, and sensory, bloom in the various areas of the park—remarkable vegetable gardens, Mediterranean terraces, French formal gardens, and romantic undergrowth—to form a surprising and immersive journey.

Over the years, the themes have drawn from the imagination of fairy tales, travels, seasons, and popular culture, inviting visitors to rediscover the garden as a space for dreaming, playing, and contemplation.

A Park Steeped in History

The Parc de Wesserling is inseparable from the textile history of the Thur valley. Once the estate of textile industrialists, it preserves remarkable industrial buildings, including the Grande Chaufferie (Great Boiler Room), converted into an exhibition space, as well as the Textile Museum, which traces two centuries of indiennes and printed fabric production. The festival is part of this cultural redevelopment dynamic, transforming a heritage site into a vibrant place of contemporary creation.

A Rich Program Throughout the Season

Beyond the ephemeral gardens, the festival punctuates the season with festive and cultural events: the Barefoot Path Festival, Nighttime Enchantments in illuminated gardens, the Vegetable Garden Festival, the Storytelling Evening, and the European Heritage Days. These events allow visitors to experience the park from different perspectives, day and night, in an atmosphere that is sometimes contemplative, sometimes festive.

A Family-Friendly and Accessible Event

The Festival des Jardins Métissés is designed for all audiences. The paths are accessible to families with strollers, and many activities are designed for children: nature games, creative workshops, treasure hunts, and the barefoot path. The park also has picnic areas and a refreshment area, inviting visitors to extend their visit for a full day in nature.