Ground-level view of the Aga Khan Garden
A new garden will bloom in 2018 at the University of Alberta Botanic Garden.
His Highness the Aga Khan, Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, has made a contribution in excess of $25 million for the Aga Khan Garden in Alberta. The gift arises from the long-standing relationship between the University of Alberta and the Aga Khan, highlighted by a Memorandum of Understanding first signed with the Aga Khan University in 2006 and an honorary doctorate given to His Highness in 2009.
Thomas Woltz, of award-winning Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, was asked by the Aga Khan to study other Mughal Islamic gardens while developing a design that also incorporates the plants and topography of Northern Alberta. With secluded forest paths, wide, stepped terraces that change with the seasons, geometric water features that stream into wetlands and a spectacular orchard of local plants, the 4.8-hectare Aga Khan Garden will be an amazing experience for area residents and visitors alike. It will be situated around the existing Calla Pond at the heart of the University of Alberta Botanic Garden.

?The Aga Khan Garden will be a place to connect with nature, a place of inspiration and a place where cultural understanding will grow,? said David Turpin, president of the University of Alberta. ?We are honoured and grateful that the Aga Khan, a champion of openness and understanding bet...