Cleveland Cultural Gardens

Text of the pillar supporting the Mother Teresa statue: “Mother Teresa” “Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu” (birth name) “1910-1997” (life span

On the pillar rising out of the wall overlooking the Poets’ Corner rock Garden is a plaque of Theodore Herzl, Hungarian journalist and the father of political Zionism; lived from 1860 to 1904. President of the First Zionist Congress until his death. Indefatigable seeker of land for a Jewish state. This plaque’s construction suggests that […]

Granite pillar etched with photo of Thomas Moore, 1779-1852  Irish entertainer, poet, singer and songwriter  Donors:  Irish Garden Club, Edward F Crawford, 2007, James C Boland, Charlene Crowley, Richard J Crawford, Sheila Murphy Crawford, Myles C Gallagher, Robert W Gillespie, Jack Kahl Jr, Martin J Keane, Michael J Keenan, Kevein J Kelley, Kevin J McGinty, William […]

Found beneath the Gregorcic bust on the Slovenian Garden’s intermediate level are three symbols incised into the stone wall. They mean: Photo by: Bill Jones

Large, thick and incised, sandstone paver block at the northern entrance to the core of the Irish Garden. Text reads: DO CUM GLORIE DE AGUS ONORA NA HEIREANN Irish Cultural Garden October 29, 1939 English translation: “For the glory of God and the Honor of Ireland”. Due to the wear on the stone and its […]

Founder and first President of Czechoslovakia as well as philosopher and sociologist who lived from 1850 to 1937.

Born in Dublin, Victor Herbert is one of the most famous composers of light opera (operettas) as well as an accomplished musician and conductor. He founded American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), which protects the rights of musicians.  The bust was dedicated in 1960 by the Irish Cultural Garden League. It subsequent went […]

A poet and physician active in the Lithuanian nationalist movement, Kudirka wrote the music and lyrics of the Lithuanian National Anthem. Originally, Kudirka was celebrated in the garden in 1938. His bust is a copy of an original by Jonas Zikaras, now in the garden of the Museum of Kamas, Lithuania. The bust was later […]

A Roman poet, Virgil wrote the Roman Empire’s national epic poem, the Aeneid. Dedicated on Columbus Day 1930, Virgil’s bust sits atop a column from the Roman forum, a gift from the Mussolini’s Italy. As the Italian Ambassador read at dedication, “By honoring Virgil, Cleveland honors herself. Rome, capital of Latinity and jealous custodian of […]

Original Virgil bust replaced in 2008 with a replica, in granite, of the original bust. Virgil (actual name: Publius Vergilius Maro) 70-19 BCE. One of the greatest Roman classical poets, writing Aeneid, Ecologues, and Georgics Sits on top of a pillar from Rome’s Forum; a gift from the Italian government and the original pillar.

Marble plaque addition to the wall in 1996.  Text:  In grateful memory of the thousands of Czech immigrants, and the generations that succeeded them…., They enriched the human fabric of Cleveland with their, knowledge, skills, faith in God, spirit of fraternalism, love of song and music, and the Sokol ideal of a sound, mind in […]

Approximately 30 foot by 12 foot masonry wall with sculpted frieze along the top and surmounted by, originally, four busts:  Tyr, Smetana, Nemcova and Perkyne.  See individual bust listings for biographic details. See individual listings for the frieze and plaque details.  In 2010, a Nemcova bust replica returned to join the original Smetana bust.  The […]

At the beginning of the hillside immediately east of the Immigrant Mother statue is a water course that is a reminder of the Slapovi Krke, Croatian National Park and United Nations World Heritage site. Photo by: Bill Jones 2012

Western face of the Dante sculpture with listing of principal donors to the project. See separate text document for details

Wm Butler Yeats 1865-1939 Cerebral Irish poet, dramatist and politician. Co-Founder and first director of The Abbey Theater. The aspiration of the Abbey was to establish a home for Celtic & Irish literature. In 1923, shortly after establishment of the Irish Free State he became Ireland’s first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature for […]

The Works Progress Administration funded the building of the Cultural Gardens, including the Yugoslav Garden. Shown here in 1937 being built against the hillside along East Boulevard, the Yugoslav Cultural Garden was the forerunner of the Slovenian Garden. Photo by: Cleveland Public Library 1937