Mon Repos or Monrepos (, from the French for "my rest") is an extensive

English landscape park The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

in the northern part of the rocky island of Linnasaari (Tverdysh, Slottsholmen) outside

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The park lies along the shoreline of the Zashchitnaya inlet of

Vyborg Bay Vyborg Bay (; ; ) is a deep inlet running northeastward near the eastern end of Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. The city of Vyborg is located near the head of the gulf. The Monrepos Park is considered a jewel of the bay and a major dra ...

and occupies about of land. The manor of Monrepos was established by Baron

Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay Ludwig Heinrich Freiherr von Nicolay (; 25 December 1737, in Strasbourg, in Monrepos north of Vyborg) was a German poet of the Enlightenment. He served as President of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences between 1798 and 1803. Nicolay was t ...

who bought this parcel of land in 1788. The estate was considered a jewel of

Old Finland Old Finland (; ; ) is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) and the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), and which were united as the Vyborg Governorate in 1744. During the Finnish War ...

and belonged to his descendants until the Soviet takeover in 1944. The core of the baronial estate consists of the Neoclassical main house (designed by

Giuseppe Antonio Martinelli Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. The feminine form of the name is Giuseppa or Giuseppina. People with the given name include: :''Note: ...

) (today derelict) and the library house. The seaside park is strewn with glacially deposited boulders, scenic cliffs and wooden pavilions. It is considered a landmark in the evolution of the Romantic taste for landscape gardening. The mausoleum of Baron Nicolay was designed by Pietro Gonzago and frescoed by Johann Jacob Mettenleiter. Ludwig Heinrich's only son and successor, Baron Paul von Nicolay, was the Russian ambassador in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

from 1816 to 1847. His wife Alexandrine Simplicie de Broglie (the 2nd Duke's granddaughter) commissioned from

Charles Heathcote Tatham Charles Heathcote Tatham (8 February 1772 in Westminster, London – 10 April 1842 in London), was an English architect of the early nineteenth century. Early life He was born in Duke Street, Westminster, the youngest of five sons of Ralph Tath ...

an obelisk commemorating her brothers slain in the

Napoleonic wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

Auguste de Montferrand Auguste de Montferrand (; ; January 23, 1786 – July 10, 1858) was a French classicist architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in Saint Petersburg. Early life ...

, Andreas Shtakenshneider and Gotthelf Borup also designed pavilions and statuary for Monrepos. The park is noted for its rocks, mostly from the old Wiborgite

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

(which is named after Vyborg), and for some glacial formations of up to high. Some 50 species of plants can be found, some of them being rare. Its fauna is diverse as well.

External links

*
Official site of Mon Repos park
{{Coord , 60, 44, 10, N, 028, 42, 45, E, type:landmark_region:RU, display=title Parks in Russia Museums in Vyborg Auguste de Montferrand buildings and structures Historic house museums in Russia Continental gardens in the English Landscape Garden style Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Leningrad Oblast Museums-Reserves of Russia

Further reading

External links