Atlas of Lost Paradises

27 of the world s greatest attempts at re-creating or reimagining paradise on earth. Paradises got off to a bad start early on. The one the Bible had arranged had to rapidly close its pearly gates when its first two occupants, Adam and Eve, had misbehaved. Humankind knows too well that the Garden of Eden will not reopen its gates, but people are always on the lookout for its mirror image, its fleeting precursor. They have devoted many sleepless nights to fashioning their own Elysian Plains and have assembled a collection of El Dorados: ideal cities, castles where freedom reigns, islands without sin or sorrow, communities governed by love and nudity, flower and bird gardens, phalansteries and homes following the motto Do as you please. There are only few success stories. Yet, despite failing to build paradises endowed with an eternal life expectancy, civilizations have sometimes succeeded in manufacturing small plots of Eden, a Mount Olympus in miniature, capable of pinching a few days or centuries from our endless melancholy. This atlas embarks us upon a journey across civilizations, through the exploration of 27 real or fictional places, including: gardens of the Middle Ages Atlantis Castles of King Ludwig Oceana Pitcairn Island city of Manoa Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang And more Each place is illustrated with a specially designed map in a graphic style that has become the hallmark of this Atlas series.