Useful information

Royal gardens

Exotic fashion

The Moscow tsars loved to grow various exotic plants in their gardens. Russian envoys and merchants who went abroad were obliged to bring various rarities with them, and at that time many plants familiar to us were considered rare. In 1654, according to a royal decree, “2 parrot birds and garden trees were purchased in Holland: 2 orange apple trees, 2 lemon trees, 2 wine berries, 4 peach plum trees, 2 apricot apple trees, 3 Spanish cherry trees, 2 almond trees kernels, 2 larger trees, plums. " All the plants, along with the parrots, were delivered to Arkhangelsk, and then transported along the Dvina to Moscow. True, during the trip, according to one of its participants, there was a little trouble: "the little parrot fell ill and died." Fortunately, the plants turned out to be more hardy: they were all safely delivered to Moscow. According to eyewitnesses, in the 17th century in the Moscow royal gardens, in addition to the usual apple trees and berry bushes, pears, cherries, plums, walnuts and even grapes grew.

Love for "wine berries"

Today for us grapes, first of all, are a useful plant and few people pay attention to its decorative properties. But not so long ago, in the 17th century, this plant in Russia was considered a real decoration of gardens and it was for this that it was grown. For the royal table, edible grapes were delivered from Astrakhan, while in Moscow gardens they were planted to delight the eyes. The cut leaves of the grapes corresponded perfectly to the artistic taste of the era, which appreciated everything pretentious and luxuriant. In addition, the seemingly strange addiction of Russian gardeners to grapes was largely due to religious motives. The vine is one of the most common symbols of Christianity. In the Christian tradition, Christ is likened to a vine, and his disciples - to young shoots. The vine and grapes on it symbolize the wine and bread of the Sacrament, the body and blood of the Savior. It is no coincidence that the stylized image of a vine adorns many Russian churches and monasteries. This motif was especially popular in the art of the 17th century.

"Grape Garden" in Izmailovo By order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a special "vine garden" was built in Izmailovo, in which there were 3 chambers decorated with carvings and painted with paints. The garden was surrounded by a fence with a gate, over which hipped towers towered. In addition to grapes, mainly fruit and berry plants, including southern rarities, were grown here. A surviving drawing from the 17th century depicts the garden as a series of concentric squares with four large circular areas at the corners. One of them shows trees planted in regular concentric circles, while the squares are occupied by buckwheat, rye, oats, hemp, barley, wheat and poppy, interspersed with currant and raspberry bushes, as well as flowers and herbs. Five sheds for storing fruits, installed a little further away, on the bank of the stream, remind of the economic role of the garden. By the way, Izmailovsky Garden was a kind of the first Russian nursery supplying planting material to other gardens in Russia. It was here that the traditions of Russian gardening were born. Based on the materials of the "Green Calendar" program

radio station "Moscow speaking".

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