The Gardens of Christ at Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Florida has a history of religious themed attractions that continues to this day with the large Holy Land Experience attraction here in Orlando. One of the lesser know religious displays is part of Sarasota Jungle Gardens, a series of miniatures known as "The Gardens of Christ."

According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the eight hand-carved dioramas were dedicated on March 2nd of 1975. The March 3rd article explains that the carvings were created by St. Augustine artist Vincent Maldarelli, but the artist passed away before his work on the "Gardens" could ever be displayed. Representing five years of Maldarelli's life, the series was inspired by a carving the artist created of Leonardo's Last Supper. The figures are carved out of balsa wood with clothing and settings extensively researched by the artist, who went to the Middle East to research the project. Each of the scenes has an accompanying recording that plays continuously describing the subject matter and its bible reference. The dioramas were in storage for six years before the artist's sister arranged for them to be displayed in Sarasota.

Some of Maldarelli's other Florida works are sculpture of Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez in St. Augustine. The artist was born in Italy and came to the US at the age of four. His father was a jewelry designer for the Tiffany company in New York.

The Nativity

Child Jesus in the Temple

Raising Jairus' Daughter

The Crucifixion

After the Resurrection

Surreal stuffed animals or taxidermy treasures?

I admitted in a recent post about the Shell Factory that I found the most interesting thing to be the enormous collection of stuffed wildlife. A recent review of photographs shows that this attraction to images of taxidermy treasures is not new and despite my wife's protests, I'm trying to understand why I find this so intriguing.

Shell Factory, North Ft. Myers, FL

Part of it is that they are seem very surreal in their man-made environments. Lit by fluorescent bulbs, under acoustic ceiling tiles, they provide a jarring juxtaposition between the untamed natural world and our safe inside spaces.

Shell Factory, North Ft. Myers, FL

Maybe it's because they are so lifelike and their sad eyes seem to follow you and stare at you. Do their eyes capture their last thought, "please don't shoot me!"? Of course their eyes are glass...

Shell Factory, North Ft. Myers, FL

Homosassa Springs, FL

Perhaps I'm trying to figure out why we seem to like put dead things on display. Or at least their skins. Is it to show we can conquer nature? Is it our vanity? Or do we find these creatures beautiful and just like looking at them?

Sarasota Jungle Gardens, Sarasota, FL

Postcard for Thomas Edison's Winter Estate, Ft. Myers, FL

College Park home, Orlando, FL

I think my fascination with stuffed fish began as a kid. My dad has a big stuffed largemouth bass that I used to love to look at. I dreamed of one day catching a fish large enough to get stuffed one day. I knew it cost lot of money, but I was willing to save and save. It was a mute point as I never caught any fish large enough... and what about using dead fish for decorating? Living in Florida my whole life, it seems somewhat more acceptable to hang up a stuffed fish, than a deer head, maybe because they are not mammals.

Taxidermy shop, Deland, FL

I saw a special on TV about these photographers who went around the UK documenting every stuffed polar bear in the British Isles. They were raising awareness of the plight of the polar bears. Might these bizarre objects be all we have left to remind us of the way things used to be in the wild before we destroyed most of the natural habitats? Some of these are for learning purposes, I suppose... Is it different than putting dinosaur bones on display?

Homosassa Springs, FL

Yellowstone National Park

Dixie Crossroads, Titusville, FL

Is it gross? Or is there something in our DNA similar to the same instinct that made early Homo Sapiens paint cave pictures of the game they hunted? I'm open to all theories....

Birds of a Feather

Caspers Ostrich and Alligator Farm wasn't the only attraction to use exotic birds to try to lure motorists off the road to spend a buck or two. Parrot Jungle, McKee Jungle Gardens, Carribean Gardens, Busch Gardens (above), and Bok Tower are just a few of the Florida attractions that featured exotic birds of some sort. Since the begining of the year, I've seen flamingoes, parrots and macaws at Homosassa Springs, Sunken Gardens, and most recently, at Sarasota Jungle Gardens.

While the birds and Homosassa Springs and Sunken Gardens are really just survivors of an earlier era, they are the major attraction at Sarasota Jungle Gardens. The Gardens themselves began in the 1930s when David Lindsey turned 10 acres of swampland in Sarasota into a beautiful exotic garden, according to Roadside Paradise. It opened as an attraction in 1940 and the "Birds of the Rainforest Show" was initially performed in 1972. Many of the birds in the show were rescued from the California Prison System, when a program that used exotic birds to rehabilitate prisoners was discontinued. Some of the avian performers used in the 1970s, still perform to this day, and according to the website, Frosty the 73 year old Cockatoo once performed on the Ed Sullivan show! It may be me, but it seemed like these colorful creatures projected a kind of wise, ancient energy. In the show, the exotic birds were asked to ride a bicycle, a roller skate and a scooter. The day we were there, the trainer was forced to be extremely resourceful to get the birds to cooperate. It was almost as if the birds were playing with the trainer.




The flamingoes live on an island in the middle of small lake but wade over to the feeding area where you can buy food out of a gumball machine and feed these tall birds. There were signs posted warning of aggresive behavior due to flamingo mating season, but that didn't stop most people from going right up to them, including children much shorter than the full height of the birds. I'm told to keep their amazing coral orange color they have to get exactly the right diet. And that diet is expensive, so attractions like Bok Tower no longer have Flamingoes. I noticed that the one at Sunken Gardens were a paler pink, as the City of St. Petersberg may not be able to afford the expensive flamingo food. But the ones at Sarasota Jungle Gardens are so bright it almost seems unnatural.