The Hanging Garden of the Small Hermitage. Building Reconstruction

In 1763 Catherine II tasked Yury Veldten with producing a design for a Hanging Garden. The garden was laid out in keeping with the classic rules for a regular park with paths to stroll on, neatly trimmed trees, parterres of flowerbeds, lawns and sculptures.
In the 1770s the appearance of the garden changed. A flower garden was laid out in the centre, while six-metre birch trees were planted along the edges.
In the 1840s, in the course of Vasily Stasov’s reconstruction of the Small Hermitage, changes were also made to the look of the garden. The central flower garden disappeared, with flowerbeds being left along each side. Blossoming trees were planted in such a way that the garden changed its colouring every month.


In the 1850s the architect Andrei Stakenschneider constructed an orangery out from the Northern Pavilion into the open part of the garden.


In the middle of this Winter Garden there was a marble fountain around which there were beds containing exotic trees, sculpture and bird cages. The balustrade of the balcony was entwined with ivy.


By 1925 the Winter Garden had fallen into disrepair and was dismantled.
In 1941 the siege-time vegetable plot was laid out in the Hanging Garden so that the museum staff could grow themselves food. In 1946 the restoration of the garden began. Lilacs were planted in it and flowerbeds were laid out on the lawns.


At the present time the Hanging Garden has been reconstructed back to the layout created by Stasov and Stakenschneider.