Peter had been inspired by the parks and gardens he had seen in Western Europe during a trip which was intended to study shipbuilding and navigation. After his travels, he spared no expense in enlisting leading architects and gardeners from Germany, France, Italy and Holland to work for him in Russia.

Virtually unlimited resources were available for building materials. Using statues and plants imported from abroad and an enormous workforce — composed of serfs, soldiers and Swedish prisoners of war — gardens such as the great parks at Peterhof, Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlosk were created encompassing themes and influences from across Europe.

Catherine the Great was largely responsible for the introduction of the English landscape style to Russia, while Maria Fyodorovna's park was mainly influenced by those that she had known in Germany and in France.

Soon other Russian families created beautiful parks as well, using rewards that they had been given by the imperial family.

Some of the founders of these dynasties had been richly remunerated for exceptional service on the battlefield, such as Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev. Others, such as Alexis Razumsovsky, were favorite admirers of the Empress Elizabeth, earning them generous endowments as well.

These families were rewarded by the imperial family with considerable sums of money, vast tracks of land and thousands of serfs — and added to the growing number of formidable estates.

When, following legislation in 1762 and 1785, the nobility were no longer required to spend most of their lives in state service and were able to devote their time instead to developing their country estates, it was the landscape style — adapted to Russian conditions — which they favored and many sought out the employment of British gardeners.

The 19th century brought problems, however. With Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia came the destruction of these luxurious manors. This catastrophe — coupled with the nobility's declining fortunes as a result of adopted extravagant western lifestyles — led to massive debts. The abolition of serfdom in 1861 deprived those who had owned serfs of their free labor. Still, the social unrest continued and class hatred led to the 1905 revolution.

The Revolution of 1917 brought the overthrow of the nobility and put an end to private ownership altogether. While a few of the outstanding parks were given state protection as the creation of the peasants who had worked on them, the rest were put to other uses or left to pillagers and to nature.

The Second World War brought horrendous damage to all the great parks, but most of them were admirably restored in the decades that followed.

With the end of communism in Russia and the restoration of private ownership, it will be interesting to see what today's nouveaux riches make of the properties they acquire.

About Peter Hayden

Author and photographer Peter Hayden is a former chairman of the Garden History Society and an honorary member of the Swedish Society for Dendrology and Park Culture. Mr. Hayden has authored numerous books on gradening.

Mr. Hayden is a graduate of the University of Wales, Bangor. During National Service in the Intelligence Corps, he trained as a Russian interpreter at Cambridge University and the Joint Services’ School for Linguists.