Green Belvedere in Ostankino Park
In the best tradition of garden architecture, a belvedere has been built in Ostankino Park, which was merged with VDNH grounds in 2014. The word 'belvedere' derives from the French word 'bellevue', or 'fair view'. With the openwork Green Belvedere, Ostankino Park visitors get to enjoy fresh air and scenic views of nature amid a tumultuous metropolis.
Historical Background
'I want to build me a theatre in Ostankino...' Count Nikolai Sheremetev declared to his majordomo Agapov on 13 February 1790. Thus began the history of the Ostankino Theatre Palace and its beautiful park.
Ostankino was not chosen randomly as the site of the future palace. Nikolai Sheremetev entertained the ambition to make a significant public statement that would make his great taste and his expertise known and perpetuate his name in Russia's history. Ostankino, then a close suburb of Moscow, seemed like the perfect location to make Sheremetev's plan a reality.
Basic construction was completed by the spring of 1797, but some work continued well into 1798. The Ostankino Palace and Park were unveiled in all their splendour before a large congregation of guests on 25 April of that year.
The planting of the garden proceeded concurrently with the palace construction. Sheremetev's idea was to have his palace surrounded with a rectilinear park in the French style. The landscape park was his later idea. The original regular park shaped up the Amusements Garden, which had a parterre, a cedar grove, a secluded 'Private Garden' and the man-made Parnassus Hill with the Milovzor pavilion.
The Amusement Garden adjoined the palace. The part of the cedar grove closest to the palace, called Surplus Garden, would be later re-landscaped into an English park. The gardener, a native Englishman, had to do all the work. Lime trees and oaks, maples and hazel trees, snowball trees and honeysuckle grew well side by side in the garden. There were five artificial ponds in the park. The Sculpture Park was also the proprietor's idea.