Dome

Large Circles garden, general view, looking west; The park, covering an area of over 1000 ha around the palace, is one of the finest landscape gardens in Russia. The basic composition was by Cameron. He divided it up into sections, including the valley of the Slavyanka, the picturesque axis of the composition, from which splendid views open up to the palace and to the pavilions he had built--the Colonnade of Apollo (1780-1783; ruined), the Temple of Friendship (1779-1782) and the Cold Baths. Ornamental gardens surrounded Cameron’s aviary (1782), a regular garden was laid out at his Pavilion of the Three Graces (1800) and a dense, melancholy wood hid his romantic dairy. At the same time he cut an avenue across the park from the palace, laid a path through the wooded areas of the ‘Menagerie’ (set aside for hunting) and designed the Great Etoile. In the 1790s Brenna also contributed to the design of regular areas of garden. The Rose Pavilion is by A Voronikhin, built 1812. All of the décor was linked to the rose, queen of the flowers. The Ball Room was added by Karl Rossi in 1814 for the return of Alexander I from Paris after the victory over Napoleon. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 6/17/2009)