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Toronto park inspired by Mughal gardens

Toronto's newest park, designed by Vladimir Djurovic, is a serene seven-hectare garden inspired by Islamic gardens, featuring more than a thousand trees, reflecting pools and a walking path.

It might be buried in snow right now, but there's a unique garden in Toronto that's worth a visit at any time of year, even in winter. The Aga Khan Park is Toronto's newest park, designed by Lebanon-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic.

PROJECT The Aga Khan Garden and The Diwan, University of Alberta Botanic Garden, Devon, Alberta

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS (Aga Khan Garden) Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

ARCHITECTS (Diwan) AXIA Design Associates (Design Architects), Arriz + Co. (Architectural & Interior Design), and Kasian Architecture, Interior Design, and Planning (Executive Architects)

TEXT David Down

The sweeping $5.5-million structure stands out, even in a garden modelled after paradise

The view from the Diwan Pavilion seems more suited to Utopia than Alberta. In a nearby courtyard, a sloping fountain pumps water through 12 stone water features flanked by wildflowers—its ultimate destination a placid pond surrounded by lush fruit trees. The setting is the 4.8-hectare Aga Khan Garden in the University of Alberta’s Botanic Garden. The pavilion presides over its easternmost edge.

Remarks by Princess Zahra Aga Khan at the Inauguration of the Diwan Pavilion at the Aga Khan Garden, Edmonton, Alberta
(source: Video the.Ismaili)
September 28, 2022

May I begin by thanking you Premier Kenney for your warm hospitality in hosting us here today, and for your support of the initiatives of the Imamat and the Ismaili community over so many years. We are deeply grateful.

It is a privilege to be here with you today and to express on behalf of His Highness and the Ismaili community around the world our gratitude for our permanent friendship.

The Diwan Pavilion was celebrated in an inauguration ceremony Sept. 28, attended by Princess Zahra Aga Khan on behalf of her father, His Highness the Aga Khan. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani and U of A president Bill Flanagan were also in attendance.

Designed to be a warm, welcoming gathering place, the Diwan Pavilion is an integral part of the Aga Khan Garden, which opened in 2018 as a gift from the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary imam of the world's 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims.

As Alberta’s Ismaili Muslim community commemorates five decades of history in Canada, many gathered at a ceremony Wednesday unveiling the final piece of the Aga Khan Garden.

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, gifted the $25-million garden to the University of Alberta and it opened four years ago in the U of A Botanic Garden southwest of Edmonton. The design also includes the Diwan, or pavilion, which was just recently finished, adding indoor gathering space. Additional donors funded construction of the Diwan to the tune of $5.5 million.

Premier Jason Kenney of Alberta welcomes Princess Zahra Aga Khan to Alberta. Princess Zahra opened the Diwan Complex at the Aga Khan Garden in Edmonton