Topiary Park

You are now walking alongside one of Durbuy’s most famous attractions. The Parc des Topiaires, on the banks of the Ourthe, is home to over 250 different topiary figures shaped out of boxwood. Don’t be surprised if you come across a mermaid, an elephant, a crocodile or even our old friend from Brussels, “Manneken-Pis”. The practice of clipping bushes and shrubs to form shapes dates back to Roman times, more specifically to the time of Pliny the Younger (62-113 AD). He used the term topiarusto refer to his gardeners, brought from Egypt or Syria as slaves It was they who introduced the art of topiary, the trimming and clipping of bushes, shrubs and trees into the shapes of wild animals or mythical figures. The plant most commonly used for this purpose tends to be box, Buxus sempervirens, but other suitable candidates include yew, laurel, spindle tree, holly and cypress. The art of topiary died out with the fall of the Roman Empire, and was not revived until the Renaissance. Some of the plants in this park are over 120 years old, tributes to the perseverance and patience of their artist-gardeners in creating these slowly-maturing works of art. For some of them, it has taken almost 20 years of painstaking shaping and clipping.

Le parc des Topiaires
Rue Haie Himbe 1 6940 B-Durbuy
tel. : +32(0)86/219.075
Courriel : topiaires@durbuy.be
Web : www.topiaires.durbuy.be
Open from 2 January to 31 October
(10am to 6pm);November (10am to
5pm);December (weekends and school
holidays, 10am to 4 pm)
€4.50 per person (free for children under
6, €1 each for children under 12).

After admiring the amazing topiary on display, be sure to pause and take in the view from one of the finest terraces in Durbuy !