On the occasion of a visit by Kim Il-Sung to Indonesia in 1965 the then Indonesian President, Achmed Sukarno, presented the state guest with an orchid. It was not just any orchid, but a specially hybridized variety, which he insisted on naming “Kimilsungia” after the North Korean president. To this day, “Kimilsungia” remains the national flower of North Korea. Pictures of the orchid can be found throughout Pyongyang, often accompanied by a red begonia, the “Kimjongilia”, named after Kim Il-Sung’s son.

Since then, the tradition of dedicating orchids to heads of state and political dignitaries has extended beyond North Korea. New varieties are given names such as “Dendrobium Angela Merkel”, “Maxillaria Gorbatschowii”, or “Brassolaeliocattleya Margaret Thatcher.” In the entrance area of HKW Brandlhuber has planted a ‘Garden of Ideologies.’

Text: HKW Berlin