[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 71 (Monday, May 23, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E919-E920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF THE GRAND OPENING OF THE CLEVELAND SYRIAN CULTURAL 
                                 GARDEN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 23, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the grand 
opening of the Cleveland Syrian Cultural Gardens, taking place on May 
29, 2011.
  The 254-acre piece of land that constitutes Rockefeller Park was 
donated to the City of Cleveland by John D. Rockefeller in 1896. The 
Cleveland Syrian Cultural Gardens is a fifty-acre piece of land within 
Rockefeller Park. These gardens were founded in 1926 to create a 
memorial area for the diverse ethnic groups that shape the region, and 
to serve as a space of reflection on peace, cooperation and 
understanding. The Cultural Gardens is currently a collection of 26 
gardens which include African-American, American Indian, British, 
Chinese, Czech, Estonian, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, 
Polish, and Slovenian gardens, among others.
  In 1929, the land for a Syrian Cultural Garden was allotted to the 
Greater Syrian American Community. The Syrian American and Arab 
American community have, for over 100 years, played a vital role in the 
spiritual, social and cultural life of the greater Cleveland community. 
For unknown reasons, the garden was never planned or built.

[[Page E920]]

  Decades later, while researching Arab immigration, the Arab American 
Community Center for Economic and Social Services (AACCESS) in Ohio 
came across the garden plot. After informing Cleveland's Syrian 
community, the project was restarted in 2004. The Syrian American 
Cultural Garden Association, Syrian Medical Society, Syrian American 
Cultural Council and the National Arab American Medical Association, 
Ohio Chapter worked to design the project.
  The design of the Syrian Cultural Garden was created by an 
architectural graduate student from Damascus University. The garden 
will be composed of many elements that represent Syrian culture such as 
the Arches of Palmyra, Amphitheater of Basra, Syrian Arch, and the 
Arabic Fountain and will include Damascene roses.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me recognition of the grand 
opening of the Cleveland Syrian Cultural Garden, the newest edition to 
Cleveland's historic Cultural Gardens.

                          ____________________