Giardino dei Giusti del Mondo, Memorial garden in Terranegra district, Padua, Italy
The Giardino dei Giusti del Mondo is a park in Padua's Terranegra area, beside the San Gregorio canal and the National Temple of the Unknown Internee. Its centrepiece is a set of large sculptural structures by Elio Armano that resemble rusted iron bars but are actually made of reinforced concrete with a special coating. Each Righteous is honoured with a plant and a stele bearing the person's name.
The garden grew out of a city initiative from 1999 aimed at keeping alive the memory of victims of persecution and genocide during the 20th century. It opened in 2008, making it one of the more recent additions to the memorial landscape of Padua.
The name comes from the Israeli title "Righteous Among the Nations", extended here to all 20th-century genocides, including those in Rwanda and Bosnia. Each Righteous is honoured by a plant and a stele bearing the person's name; the cyclist Gino Bartali was added on 2 October 2011 for helping Jews during the Second World War.
The garden lies in Terranegra, beside the San Gregorio canal, next to the Tempio nazionale dell'internato ignoto and its museum. The Cammino dei Giusti del Mondo runs along the canal embankment; a first stretch opened on 2 October 2011, and a second stage with nine memorial trees followed in 2013.
A phrase by the philosopher Hannah Arendt is inscribed on one of the garden's walls, addressing the question of personal courage in times of oppression. This makes the space one of the few public gardens in Italy where a philosophical text is woven directly into the memorial design.
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