An international conference on the influence of Islamic gardens and architecture on Western civilization is being hosted in the city of Kavala, Northern Greece (10-12 October). The conference is titled "Aspects of Islamic Gardens: Multi-meanings of Paradise" and gathers researchers from various universities who focus on tracing common artistic and social patterns between East and West. 

The conference venue is also symbolic; it is being hosted at the Imaret (Turkish for pilgrims’ inn), a big edifice of the late Ottoman period and a classic example of Islamic architecture located in Kavala’s old town. The conference is organised by the Mohammed Ali Institute and the Eastern Macedonia & Thrace Institute of Technology.

*Jannah, an eternal place for Muslims, is the Islamic conception of paradise. The Arabic word Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply "Garden".