This Surreal Sculpture Garden is a Dreamy Mexican getaway

When English aristocrat, poet, and artist Edward James had a surrealist vision for an architectural dreamscape in the jungles of Mexico, he made it a reality when he acquired a coffee plantation in Xilitla in 1947. He spent the next ten years planting orchids–there were as many as 29,000 at one time–and creating homes for exotic animals. This incredible sculpture garden is a must-do for your Mexico travel list!

An unexpected frost in 1962 destroyed many of James’s plants, and that was when the construction of the Las Pozas, the world’s most fantastical sculpture garden that we know today, truly began, ending in 1984 with James’ death. Those who travel here are seldom disappointed.

Photo: Alonso Andrade via Wikipedia Commons

“Las Pozas” translates to “the pools” — appropriately named for the nine pools that Plutarco Gastelum, James’ friend, who would become the foreman and overseer of the construction, built over the span of 20 acres, all of the pools sourced from waters that flow naturally through the lush jungle property.

But if you travel to Las Pozas, it has far more to offer than just its eponymous pools: James directed the construction of 36 surrealist inspired concrete sculptures, many with names as whimsical as the structures themselves, such as the House on Three Floors Which Will in Fact Have Five or Four or Six, the House with a Roof like a Whale, and the Staircase to Heaven.

Photo: Rod Waddington via Flickr

Salvador Dalí described James as “crazier than all the Surrealists together,” so it’s appropriate that James’ design would defy architectural expectations: Las Pozas is complete with open and free-flowing, multi-level pavilions with gothic arches, sloping, serpentine or curved columns with brightly colored flower capitals, and winding staircases leading nowhere but the sky.

The design was in part inspired by the rich array of flora and fauna of the Huasteca region of the southern San Luis Potosi state, and in part from surrealist art, of which the sources of creation lie in dreams or the subconscious.

Photo: Lee via Flickr

As a patron of the arts, James was in contact with many visionaries of his time, including Aldous Huxley, who introduced him to Hollywood elites that then brought him to spiritualists of the West Coast, through which he discovered the rainforests of Mexico, which aligned with his love of plants and animals, so if you’re also a nature enthusiast, Las Pozas may be one of your ideal Mexico travel destinations.

Photo: Rod Waddington via Flickr

Over the years, Las Pozas has lured many artists, photographers, and writers interested in James and the surrealist movement to travel and enjoy the realization of James spectacular vision. After James died, the Gastelum family took over the property. In 2007, it was “Fondo Xilitla,” a non profit charity in Mexico headed by the Pedro and Elena Hernández Foundation, that acquired the breathtaking 20 acres, with the purpose of preserving James’ structures and protecting the lands and gardens.

Fondo Xilitla’s advisors include noteworthy figures from the world of art, philanthropy, ecology, and architecture, both in Mexico and in the US. Their goal is to enable visitors to Las Pozas to have an enriching cultural experience every time they make it a spot on their list of exotic places to travel. Looking at such magnificent sights that mix reality and fantasy, how could you not?