Rome marks World Environment Day with new installation at Botanic Gardens.

Rome's Orto Botanico, or Botanic Gardens, will inaugurate an installation called The Living Chapel to mark World Environment Day at 17.00 on Friday 5 June.

The installation is made of recycled material covered entirely with young plants and trees and equipped with a music system generated by water.

The Living Chapel project was conceived by the Australian-Canadian composer Julian Darius Reviel who, with the help of 100 volunteer students, sought to recreate the Porziuncola chapel of St Francis in Assisi.

The recycled aluminum structure was covered by 3,000 permanent ornamental plants and thousands of young trees from the forests of central Europe and a collection of ancient fruits originating in Umbria.

Sound installations have also been created with recycled oil barrels, regenerated as musical instruments which, animated by a flow of water drops, create a continuous musical symphony.

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The project represents a "place of profound harmony between nature, music, art, architecture and humanity" according to Rome's La Sapienza University which manages the Botanic Gardens in the heart of Trastevere.

The aim of the project is to green the planet, promoting the Laudato Sì papal encyclical and the principles of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, encouraging collaboration in protecting the environment.

At the end of the summer the structure will be dismantled and the trees will be donated to green areas and used in the creation of new gardens.

The Living Chapel can be visited during opening days at the Botanic Garden: Mon-Sun 09.00-18.30. Reservations required (preferably by e-mail at ortobotanicoroma@yahoo.com or tel. 0649917135 from 09.00 to 17.00).

For full details about the project, including how to watch the inaguration ceremony live online, see updates via the Twitter account of The Living Chapel, while for visitor information see the Orto Botanico website.