September 30, 2024, 5:11 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
This place seems to be right in the land of dreams – with its bizarre sculptures, staircases leading to nowhere, and palaces that, on closer inspection, are not palaces. But this place is real – and lies in the middle of the Mexican rainforest. Who built it there? And why?
They called him “Don Eduardo” or “The crazy Englishman,” this strange stranger who suddenly appeared in the jungle near Xilitla in the 1940s and announced that he wanted to create his “Garden of Eden” here. He had previously been in Los Angeles, where he first discussed his dream of Las Pozas in artistic circles. However, he preferred to realize it in Central America, as “Mexico seemed more romantic to him than overpopulated Southern California.”
It wouldn’t have worked in the USA either. The result of his project would never have passed the critical gaze of American building inspectors and insurance agents. In Las Pozas, stairs without railings lead to nowhere – or into buildings without roofs. Here, constrictor snakes slither through the thicket; paths wind through the jungle without a destination or system.
The man who built Las Pozas
This “Garden of Eden,” a mysterious dream city in the middle of the jungle, is as dangerous as it is fantastic. In addition to all the confusion and boundless amazement, it also evokes wonder. Who was this man for whom paradise looks like an overgrown labyrinth of concrete and thickets?
Edward William Frank James was born in Scotland in 1907. He was the only son of Evelyn Forbes, a prominent Scottish lady of high society. His biological father was allegedly the then Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. It is unclear which genes he was actually born with. But it was certainly a lot of money. By the time James came of age, he was already a multi-millionaire.
And what did he do with his money? He supported artists and became a patron of the arts. He was particularly fond of surrealism, and James was one of the first supporters of this intellectual movement, which went against traditional norms. Salvador Dalí became a close friend. He traveled to Italy with him and bought numerous paintings and art objects from him. And like Dalí, James emigrated to Los Angeles during the Second World War – only to soon travel on from there to Mexico in search of a place for his garden.
Most of the buildings were never finished
Five kilometers (about 3.1 miles) east of Xilitla, at the Las Pozas small waterfalls in the middle of the Mexican rainforest, he found what he was looking for. It was here that James first began to grow orchids. However, frost destroyed the delicate flowers in the early 1960s, prompting James to immortalize orchids larger than life as concrete sculptures.
Over the years, temples, pagodas, and palaces were added – connected by winding paths lined with pillars and stairs that have no destination and end abruptly. In fact, most of the buildings were never finished, and most lack a roof. Their names are all the more extensive: “The House with Three Storeys that Might be Five” is the name of one, and “The House Destined to be a Cinema” is another.
The buildings inspired him not only to write poetic names but also entire poems. Incidentally, poetry was the only art that James not only promoted but also practiced himself. However, he never saw himself as an artist – it didn’t help that his friend Dalí called him a great poet. This changed only in Las Pozas, where James finally saw himself as an artist. And what else could he be – given the fantastic garden he created here, this unique total work of art?
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Only one building in the jungle city is habitable
James had a total of 36 sculptures and buildings built here. But only one of them is habitable: a small jungle palace in which “Don Eduardo” himself lived, of course – surrounded by his hand-tamed parrots and often by artists from all over the world who visited his surrealist Xanadu.
The mysterious jungle city was largely built by local Otomí Indians. James’ entire fortune went into his surrealist dream, amounting to 5 million dollars. He even auctioned off his collection of surrealist works, including works by Dalí, for Las Pozas. However, James’ dream was never completed: when he died of a stroke on his way back from a visit to Europe in 1984, construction work was halted. The site fell into disrepair, and the jungle reclaimed the area.
The concrete jungle city had almost been swallowed up – when a foundation took over the sculpture garden in 2008 and began efforts to preserve the site. Today, visitors can tour the garden, open from 9 a.m. to sunset. There is a restaurant and guided tours.
How to get there: Fly to Tampico (via Mexico City) and then continue by rental car, or from Texas (such as Brownsville or McAllen), take a bus to Xilitla (an 8-hour drive).
The original of this article was published in 2016.