Wagner's garden does not exist, I have to admit, that I invented it when I was in Bayreuth in the spring of 2009. But this sentence is not true in this form. Wagner's garden does exist. It is behind the Wahnfried Villa, where Wagner and his wife were buried. The Wahnfried Villa was designed on the basis of the composer's ideas and he spent the last eight years of his life there. The garden around the Villa, however is not Wagner's garden. It is the well kept garden of a Museum, where we can pay our tribute to the composer, if we wish so. But Wagner's garden is not there. I cannot tell however, where it is exactly. I think Wagner's garden is everywhere, where gods or heros fight with one another, to become myths after being defeated in the fight. Most of the gardens of Europe, especially those of Bayreuth are full of the statues of these mythical figures. Already 100 years before Wagner gardens were born, the statues of which could have been dreamt of by Wagner as well. I cannot remember, whether Wagner has gardens in Hungary. I mean, in an abstract sense. I am sure, there used to be some, but the passing of time and the marching of different armies did not help them survive. Their remnants may have been removed by the nearby inhabitants, feeling happy that finally everything became common property with the arrival of the beautiful world of Communism. But they may not even have thought about this while they were carrying the stone pieces, they were just happy that they could remove what they had not even been allowed even to touch earlier. A new world was built from these stones, in some places the town hall of the community, or a shed. Or just a loo in the back of the garden. In luckier places, nobody removed anything, the stones were just left where they were. Instead of people then, nature did its job and it took back what used to belong to it. The same happened in Angkor and in several other places in the world. Glorious empires have disappeared and have become myths. In this sense Angkor is Wagner's garden as well, as well as our silent passing.
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