Ornamental Tulip Gardens (ETW building)
| Ornamental Tulip Gardens | |
|---|---|
| Category: | Culture |
| Level: | 2 |
| Turns to build: | 4 |
| Building cost: | 1500 |
| |
| Requires | |
 School of Poetry | |
| Enables | |
 Great Museum | |
Formal gardens are a place of quiet contemplation, where the cares and burdens of the state can be set aside for a while.
The tulip is a native flower of, among other places, Anatolia, and the flower has long been prized by the Ottomans. Planted in formal gardens, the design of which owes much to the Persian “paradise garden”, they are a spectacular display of shapes and colour. The layout of the gardens is intended to reflect the layout of paradise, and perfect blooms are a part of that.
Despite the insane financial speculation of “tulip mania” in Holland during the 17th Century, the tulip was not a native plant; it had arrived from the Ottoman Empire. The Dutch, however, were quite innovative when they indulged in the lunacy of tulip speculation, trading individual bulbs at ridiculously inflated prices. They even operated a “tulip futures” market on specimens that hadn’t even been planted or grown! Dishonesty was rife and eventually the speculation had to stop; the tulip market collapsed, like all financial bubbles, leaving many penniless. The tulip, fortunately, remains a popular garden plant to this day, although thankfully without the financial jiggery-pokery! Gardeners with too much money did pay high prices for tulip bulbs in the 18th Century although these were for planting, not financial speculation.
This building can only be built in the faction capital.