Yaroslavl Manufaktura gardens

The Peter & Paul Park, located on the Western side of the city, features the contours of the Dutch ornamental garden, which was laid out in 1723 as a gem to the Yaroslavl Bolshaya Manufactory. The garden was the pride of Jean (Ivan) Tamesz, a Dutch merchant who was commissioned by Peter the Great to set up the first textile industry in Russia, and who teamed up with the local industrialist Ivan Zatrapeznov. At the time, the garden was state-of-the art in its design and it has been identified by Dutch experts as a bigger brother to the garden of the Royal Palace 'Het Loo' in the Netherlands. In fact, Dutch gardeners had been employed by Peter the Great in his new capital Saint Petersburg (founded in 1703) to build and maintain, among others, the famous Summer Garden. In the same year 1723 that the Yaroslavl garden was designed, the Peterhof Garden School was founded in Petersburg on Peter's orders and under the leadership of the Dutchman van Garnikfeld. Perhaps he was also instrumental in the coming about of the garden in Yaroslavl. In any case, the fact that the new culture introduced by Peter migrated early on so deep into old Russia renders the Dutch garden in Yaroslavl highly significant in the history of Russia.

In the 19th century the Yaroslavl Manufactory moved on to new premises a little further north, where the Dutch traditions of an ornamental garden within a manufacturing environment were continued in the form of recreational parks for workers and for engineers. Highly innovative for Russia at the time.

The reconstruction and design of future use of the historical Dutch garden in Yaroslavl is a subject of co-operation between the Dutch and Russian governments. The co-operation involves Dutch experts from the National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), the Head Gardener of the Museum Royal Palace 'Het Loo', the Dutch Embassy in Moscow, and private Russian companies having a stake in the exploitation of the future park/spa complex, including a hotel and cottages. The Dutch partners aim at ensuring a restoration-reconstruction process being in line with international norms with maximum retention of authenticity. An important indicator of the vitality of the project is its effect on social-economic development of the deprived urban areas adjacent to the park complex. The future revitalisation of the surrounding areas is therefore part of the project.

OBJECTIVES
Regeneration and new use of the Peter & Paul Park in Yaroslavl; knowledge transfer related to landscape architecture.

RESULTS
Development of design documentation for the reconstruction of the Dutch ornamental garden as part of the Peter & Paul Park; advice on new development projects on the park territory; consultations on urban development issues in the larger residential area adjacent to the park complex.