Summer garden > The Small Oranger

The Small Oranger

It is known that in 1710 there was some «round, orangery» in the restoration. Construction and renovation of orange11 » greenhouses and «steam boxes» were in process from that time on. The structure of the «Small Orangery» was first marked on the me a sured drawing of the restoration completed by G. Okhlopkov and A. Safonov in approximately 1736. The orangery with the « ei Garden» can be well seen on the axonometric plan of St. Petersburg completed by Saint Hilaire in 1767-1773. According to the inventory of 1736, in the Garden there was «The Grand Stone Orangery» alongside seven wooden conservatories, and among those there was a «timber orangery on stone foundation» called «The African Orangery». They grew watermelons, melons, pineapples, pomegranates, grapes there and cultivated laurel, «coffee and other trees from overseas».

In 2009 they conducted archeological research on the site where «The Small Orangery» had been located. In 2010-2011 the building was reconstructed. The volumetric and spacial composition of the structure and its external architectural character, the project of the facade decorations had been made from the drawing of «the orangery in the second Red Garden» completed by the architect Ivan Blank in 1738. At present, the orangery is used to keep tub subtropical plants in winter.