Decentralized composition of russian natural gardens

Abstract

Our intention in writing this work was to identify methods that were used in Russian landscaped garden design on the example of St. Petersburg estates and the Bogoroditsky palace and park ensemble created by A.T. Bolotov, and to reveal differences between Russian and English landscaped parks. The study suggests that the Russian park was very different from the English one. Whereas the English park would be created as a visual sequence (a system of park pictures) in which different panoramas were constructed from different perspectives, Russian park designers sought to create the space of the park as a pathway between individual scenes. English parks were living pictures, and Russian natural gardens were 3D spaces. As a conclusion, Russian parks had a decentralized composition and were structured as a system of scenes (glades with architectural or natural objects) and “dark alleys” (transit spaces) connecting them, and the immersive environment of the Russian garden implied the depth of the space.

Keywords

• russian park and garden art
• landscaped parks
• st.petersburg estates