Oh Se-hoon Visits France's 'Chaumont International Garden Festival' to Explore Development Directions for 'Seoul Garden Expo'

One of the World's Top 3 Garden Festivals, 'Chaumont International Garden Festival'
Seoul City to Expand Garden Scale at 'Hangang Park' Next Year... Seasonal Redesigns for Year-Round Opening After Creation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 22nd (local time), Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the ‘2022 Chaumont International Garden Festival’ in France, one of the world’s top three garden festivals, and announced plans to develop the ‘Seoul Garden Expo,’ held annually by Seoul City, into a world-class expo.

The ‘Chaumont International Garden Festival’ is an international garden expo held since 1992 around Chaumont Castle located on the banks of the Loire River in the Centre region of France. Along with the UK’s ‘Chelsea Flower Show’ and Germany’s ‘BUGA (Federal Garden Show),’ it is considered one of the world’s top three garden festivals. It is held annually from April to October over about six months, creating around 30 gardens, some of which remain after the event to be showcased the following year.

Next year, Seoul City plans to move the stage of the ‘Seoul Garden Expo’ to the Han River Park, Seoul’s representative waterfront space, and expand the scale of the exhibition gardens so that citizens can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Han River and garden culture together. Since a wide space for garden creation can be secured like the Chaumont expo site located on the banks of the Loire River, opportunities to appreciate gardens are expected to become much richer.

The exhibition scale will also expand from 28 gardens this year to more than 40 next year, and after the initial garden creation, the gardens will be redecorated with flowers suitable for each season so that citizens can enjoy the gardens from spring to autumn, just like the ‘Chaumont International Garden Festival.’ In addition, garden experience programs for various groups such as the elderly and children will be held year-round to bring garden culture closer to our daily lives.

In 2024, Seoul plans to expand the event into the ‘Seoul International Garden Expo,’ featuring world-class gardens created by famous domestic and international artists. Systematic preparations will be made to raise its status as a world-class garden culture festival like the ‘Chaumont International Garden Festival.’

Mayor Oh said, "Unlike garden expos in European countries such as the UK, Germany, and France, which started over 100 years ago, the history of domestic garden expos is short. However, with the advent of an aging society and changes in lifestyle patterns after COVID-19, citizens’ interest in garden culture is increasing," adding, "As the demand from citizens who want to spend leisure time in gardens grows, we will develop the ‘Seoul Garden Expo’ into a world-class festival so that they can enjoy the highest level of garden culture."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.