Parks and gardens of Kazan and London
Who are we, living in a big city? What are we in the world of high buildings?
The sun rises. The morning with its innocence and freshness is reflected in a million sparkling windows of the megapolis.
The day has begun. Voices and sounds fill the air of the city and finally it has become an immense creature. We are the part of this monster, its moving body, its brain, its blood.
Megapolis streets. They’re always full of silent thoughts, hopes, desires. Chains of people, hurrying somewhere on business, and we become a link of this chain. Drivers suffer from traffic jams accidents, pedestrians curse rush hours. People’s faces express nothing or only irritation. When the working day draws to a close, you are so exhausted and pinched, that the only thing that you want at this moment is to crawl into your bed and sleep, sleep, sleep. It’s the result of the mad rhythm in the world of the big city.
Yes, all people get adapted to this way of living; but people are not machines – their nerves, health and patience aren’t infinite. However strong your will is you’re feeling the stress of the routine. One of the best ways of coping with stress is to escape. To escape from the place where you spend your daily life, to escape fully; first of all with your mind, to give yourself a chance to recharge your life with new, bright and positive emotions. Every person is unique, each has a favourite method of escaping from a tiring and monotonous day. I myself like the idea of spending my day off in the park. It’s my cherished desire to get away from crowds when I have a rest. You feel calm and relaxed when the light breeze quietly rustles the leaves in the parks and gardens. The “lungs” of Kazan provide welcome relief from noise, exhaust, dust and grime of the streets.
These words were written in the 18th century, and they are not about our city, but as you can see the problem is the same. By the way, the creation of parks can reduce air pollution to 70-75%.
Maybe only madmen can live in a big city. Maybe. But as for me I can hardly do without all the hustle and bustle of my native city. So instead of speaking of one million of Kazan madmen I’d rather quote Samuel Johnson’s words who said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” To my mind it is 100 percent true. If you are tired of the city, most probably you need some relaxing hour in the park or in the city garden.
They are popular with old people and young. There are tempting opportunities here: you can sit on a bench reading a book or chatting with your friend, walk among old trees, relax and admire flowers and plants or play different games. You might find it interesting and amusing to meet different people here and have a nice time. Married couples come here with their very young children. Lots of people enjoy the picturesque scenery and breathe fresh air.
The aim of my work is to prove that parks and gardens of Kazan and London not only create favourable microclimatic and sanitary-hygienic conditions, but they also enrich the artistic expressiveness of architectural ensemble of the cities and they are favourite places of citizens’ rest.
To achieve the aim the following tasks must be solved:
1.to give the definition and classification of parks and gardens;
2.to make a comparative analysis of landscape-gardening of Kazan and London;
Why have I chosen these two cities? The reason is Kazan is my native town and London is considered to be the greenest city in Europe. Englishmen’s love to gardens is known all over the world.
The urgency of this theme is that the creation and preservation of parks and gardens is one of the decisions of the problems of big cities. Scientists consider that in the 21st century more than half of the population of the earth will live in cities.
The authority of our city understands the necessity of creation of new and preservation of old parks and gardens. In September 2005 Kazan specialists visited London where they got acquainted with landscape gardening complexes. During the visit they saw Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, St. James’ Park, London National Zoo, the palace gardens of Hampton Court.
For writing this work encyclopedias, reference and guide books, dictionaries “Britannica”, Internet were used.
This material might be used in region and country study lessons, in the work of young ecologists.
Chapter I. Types of parks
Park is a vast territory (not less than 10 hectares), on which the existing natural conditions (greenery, water basins) reconstructed using different devices of landscape architecture, green building and engineering improvement. It’s an independent architectural complex, used by public for pleasure and rest.
There are the following types of parks:
1. Park of culture and rest is a green massive which size, location, natural characteristics provide the best conditions for public’s rest and organization of different cultural, political and sport events. Trees and plants occupy 70-80 % of all square.
2. Sport park (stadium) is a territory on which different sport and cultural facilities are placed.
3. City park is a large grassy enclosed piece of land in a town, used for walks and rest.
4. Park-exhibition is a complex of pavilions for organizing exhibitions of city, regional, republic, state and international significance on the given theme. 35-40% of the territory is given to trees and plants.
5. Botanical park is a scientific, research and cultural establishment. It’s also used as a place of rest.
6. Zoological park is a scientific, research establishment where animals live in natural ecological conditions.
7. Forest park is a forest massive in or outside the city used for rest.
8. Park-preserve is a kind of “monument to nature”, having scientific, cultural and economic value. The visit is allowed only in the form of organized excursions. Facilities, necessary for scientific work, are located in the remote corners of the preserve.
9. The territory of the national park is vast. Besides the inspirational delight engendered by its own unique beauty, the purpose of every national park is to provide education about the basic natural values and processes that visitors are able to observe. It is a public resource for recreation, education, scholarship, and the preservation of endangered landscapes, natural communities, and species.
10. In historical park visitors get acquainted with historical monuments of landscape architecture. Preserved and reconstructed historical buildings are used for museums and exhibitions.
11. Ethnographic park is designed for demonstration of unique samples of living facilities of the past in the conditions of natural landscape. Visitors are also attracted by thematic exhibitions organized in the park. It’s also the place of public’s rest.
12. Memorial park is created on the territory connected with the names of outstanding political figures, scholars or cultural workers. This park usually has historical or cultural significance.
13. Children’s park is a green territory with favourable sanitary-hygienic conditions. It’s used for games and entertainment.
14. City garden is located in a living district, it’s less than a park. There are facilities for games and entertainment which are used by the people of the nearest houses.
Chapter II. Landscape gardening of Kazan and London
It is a moot point as to when the park is at its most beautiful. Is it in spring, when the meadows are bedecked with flowers and the forest turns green or in the autumn, with its numerous seasonal hues mirrored in the lakes, or perhaps in winter, when trees are hushed and shrouded in ice in the snowbound landscape? I think that people enjoy its beauty in all seasons.
To begin with let’s give some figures. The square of Kazan is 65000square kilometers, its population is more than one million people. The square of London is 1560square kilometers and the population is 7million people. Nowadays there are 123 parks, gardens and squares in our city, its area is 1504,7 hectars. In London there are 1700 parks, its square is 174 square kilometers. The greenery occupies 9631hectars in Kazan and 1550 square kilometers in London. These figures show Englishmen’s love to parks and gardens. They are eager to lay them out everywhere if there is a little land or water. Even on the barges near the Regent’s canal one can see small gardens.
Kazan and London parks have their own history and fortune. Let’s consider some of them.
I’d like to say that there was always an abundance of greenery in our city: some of the old gardens and parks have gone (for example, Derzhavinsky, Panaevsky Gardens), others still invite the citizens into their shade ( Central park named after M.Gorky, Leninsky Garden, Gardens “Hermitage”, Fux’s Garden). Some of them have been recently laid out (“Shurale”, Victory park, Millenium park).
Once in Freedom Square was a small green garden – Derzhavinsky one with a fountain.. In the place of the Musa Dzalil Opera and Ballet Theatre in the 19th century stood the monument to the outstanding poet G.Derzhavin born in the Kazan Province and a graduate of a Kazan gymnasium.
I’m happy to say that this monument has been already restored. I think that the role of Nikolay Belyaev and other Kazan poets is significant in it. Their poems were heard and it was decided to correct historical injustice.
The present-day stadium “Dinamo” was formerly called “Panaevsky gardens” after the owners – the Panaevs. There were several theatres, a summer stage and a chess club in the gardens. In 1917 the gardens was purchased by the Duma and since then had become city possession. The entrance into the gardens was paid – 20 kopecks. The gardens were opened from 7p.m. to 3a.m. in summer. In 1896 they began demonstrating cinema performances in Panaevsky gardens.
The Central park of culture and rest was named after M.Gorky. In the times of khan’s government yet, there was a wonderful linden grove in this place; one of many, which thick Arsky wood started with. In the 18th century the town began to grow taking the territory of Arsky field. When the town borders got close to present Tolstoi Street, the forest began being rendered habitable. Wealthy townspeople started to build country-houses and cultivate gardens here. In early 19th century the forest got an unusual name – “Russian Switzeland”. It’s interesting that this place really reminded picturesque hills of Switzeland and first it was noticed by professor of physics of Kazan Imperial University herr Bronner. From him the forest got its beautiful name.
After the revolution the park was desolated, but in 1936 Russian Switzeland was renamed into the Gorky park of culture and rest.
Speaking about “Russian Switzeland” we can’t but mention about “German Switzeland.” Some time ago there was behind Arsky cemetery and the lunatic asylum in the name of All Sorrowful (today the psychoneurologic sanitarium) a very famous forest in Kazan which was called “German Switzeland”. It was a quiet and calm place with country houses-dachas, where townsfolk families mostly with German last names spent their summers.
This dacha place was founded in the first half of the 19th century by professor of Kazan Imperial University L.L.Fogel. During several years he was searching for medical and mineral springs here. But all the springs, found by Fogel, had tasty, but usual water. At last he built a country-house in this forest on the bank of the Kazanka in order to make researches all the summer. Fogel’s university friends, also Germans, liked this place. After them, having discovered that this place was suitable for summer rest, other German families came along. Soon the forest turned into real German dacha society. And witty townspeople by analogy with “Russian Switzeland” called it “German Switzeland”.
The garden “Hermitage” is of great historical and cultural significance. Its square is 3.9 hectares.
Nowadays there are 529 trees on its territory, you can also find there some exotic plants and trees, for example, bird-cherry tree Maaka, Hungarian lilac-bush, 166 species of fir-trees etc. No doubt, it is a real monument of nature.
I should say it’s a sadly famous place. Like in far-away England, where castles with ghosts are said to be met, in our city there is a mysterious grove-garden. The austere look of this garden corresponds to its no less solemn history connected with the grievous fate of its owner.
I’d like to tell you a horrible story. Do you believe and like mysteries? I hope you do.
In the first quarter of the 19th century the mining engineer and gentleman by birth Nikolai Vorozhtzov purchased an estate with a grove on the right-hand side of Starogorshechnaya Street (in the corner of Shchapov and Mayakovsky streets). He had installed two or three modest sculptures imitating ancient ones and called it a garden. Then he brought his wife and children to the estate and at first sight led normal life of a town resident. And though his life was rather unsociable, and he was not at all fond of balls, didn’t endure visitors, the rumours crept that the engineer Vorozhtsov was doing various impious things and that he had malicious and even fierce character. He beat his house-serfs mercilessly experiencing a kind of morbid delight. He could even whip them to death for the slightest fault. Vorozhtsov personally buried those who died in the garden without any burial service. He was said to have killed thus several dozen serfs, and his garden turned into a real cemetery, though without crosses and tombstones. Maybe there are still souls of these people moving through the garden. Who knows?!
Vorozhtsov whipped to death and also buried in the garden his own son, who tried to inform on him to authorities. His daughter left home. And his wife after the death of her husband in 1857 left for Sviyazhsky Convent to atone for his sins by prayer.
Since then the garden has stood neglected and gloomy. The town authorities tried more than once to bring it into a proper state and to arrange here one more recreation zone for Kazaneers. In 1906-1907 there was opened a café, and the “dirty” place itself got the name “Hermitage”. The cyclodrom, where bicyclists made their first attempts, and the circus which successfully worked, but burnt in 1912 added originality to this place.
In the 50’s of the 20th century an open-air cinema and children’s playground were arranged there, but they also didn’t “settle down”. Today the garden stands overgrown and gloomy, inspiring depression in passers-by. Some people even say that it is an “evil place.” One of sights of which is the dilapidated statue of an elephant. God knows where it appeared from.
Chernoozersky Garden was named after the lake which was filled up in 1889-91 because it was badly polluted and, as a result, fetid. Though in the old days it was not only very clean, but fishy and the water of it was considered the best for baking kalatches. In 1829 yet the lake banks were decorated with terraces, covered with turf and planted with trees. In 1847 the garden was surrounded with a cast-iron fence which cost the town purse 7 thousand roubles. In the late 19th century Chernoozersky garden was a favourite place for the townspeople’s strolls.
Leninsky Garden is the students’ favourite place. Some trees are more than 100 years old, they’ve seen a lot in their life. If you touch them, maybe, they’ll tell you their secrets.
Once on this site there was a marsh around which stood blacksmith’s workshops. They gave a name to the square – Kuznechnaya. In 1842s, under the governor S.P. Shipov, the marsh and mud were filled up, the smithies were removed and the place was transformed into a drill square for training soldiers. In honour of Emperor Nikolai I visit to Kazan in 1837 the square was named after him. In 1890 Kazan received All-Russian scientific-industrial exhibition the pavilions of which were located on Nikolaevskaya Square. After the exhibition closing they laid out a public garden on this site and planted trees which survived till nowadays.
In 1894 the founder of Kazan water-supply Gubonin set up here a fountain in the form of two Cupids. It has remained though many details were lost. Near the fountain stood a tented kiosk where they sold mineral water. In 1926 the garden was renamed after Lenin, but nevertheless they continued to sell water, ice-cream and pies here. There was also a fountain representing a sea lion surrounded by small penguins. In 1978 the monument to the great chemist A.M. Butlerov (1828-86) was erected on this very site.
In 2005 our city celebrated its millennium. On the 26th of August 2005 Millennium park was opened. It is situated in the central part of our city, between the buildings of “Tatenergo” office and Baskethall. Its area is 5.6 hectars, but it will be 16.
“Shurale” is a character of Gabdulla Tukay’s fairy tale. The park itself is also like a fairy tale. The park was opened in 2004 and has become the pride of our city.
As for English gardens they in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries had three main purposes. First, they were places for exercise and sport; second, they were places to grow fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers; and third, they were places for entertaining and showing off.
These three functions recur from generation to generation as the story of English gardening unfolds.
It follows that the design of the park – its layout and its plantings – was often determined by the need to control animal movements and to protect the land from overgrazing. Later on (c.1800), the sight of sheep or cattle grazing in the parkland came to be considered an essential part of the parkland’s allure.
By 1800 almost every squire in England had converted the land around his house into a flowing landscape garden.
The usual way to lay out a park was to survey the estate – a useful exercise – and to start by making maps which showed the colours and some of the existing features, including the better trees.
Grazing land and grazing animals were allowed in the park – indeed they were essential to this rural idyll – but the movement of grazing animals had to be carefully regulated and controlled, so that fences and enclosures were disguised as belts, clumps and ditches.
Landscaped parks were symbols of power and wealth. They recalled the ancient deer parks of Tudor times, but could be made and maintained at a fraction of the cost. Any landowner could make a landscaped park. Some did so by themselves, without advice from a designer, but most parks were made with a measure of help from local advisers – a steward or an architect, for example.
Behind Whitehall’s ministries and Downing Street, westward toward Buckingham Palace, lies St. James’s Park, the oldest and most ornamental of the six central Royal Parks that give the West end of London a heritage of beauty, repose, and sense of continuity. The swampy ground belonging to the Sisters of St. James - in – the Field was taken in 1532 by Henry VIII, who built nearby St. James’s Palace, like a red – brick toy – soldier castle. It was originally a nursery for Henry VIII deer along with a tilt-yard (for jousting) and bowling alley. The Stuarts admitted the public to the park, which Charles II had done up in the formal Versailles manner. George IV had the park redesigned in its present seductive form by John Nash in 1828. The beauty of its layout today is largely due to him. The formal “canal’ was changed into a long, irregular lake graced with a small bridge from which the Whitehall buildings, topped with pinnacles and towers, form a rather “Arabian nights” silhouette. The weeping willows around the lake also lend an Oriental touch to what is an archetypal (and extremely artful) English landscape.
Green Park, close by, is an unpretentious stretch of especially thick, rich grass and luxuriant stands of trees, the plainest of the Royal Parks. It was in the past a favourite place for duelists and highwaymen. Now the park is a quiet, wooded place.
Hyde Park was a forest and it belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey. In 1556 these lands were taken by Henry VIII. Since then the park became royal, then city, and in the 18th century the public was admitted to the park.
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together have an area of 615 acres. From an Italianate water garden in Kensington Gardens flows the Long Water, which, once it enters Hyde Park, becomes the Serpentine, where, depending on the weather and the hardiness of participants, there is boating and ice-skating or, at a strand called the Lido, swimming. William III nipped 26 acres off the western end of Hyde Park in 1689 to make a garden for Kensington Palace, enlarged by further acquisitions in succeeding reigns.
Regent’s Park, with Primrose Hill abutting, is about a quarter of an hour’s walk north from Marble Arch. This parkland, too, was part of Henry VIII hunting preserve. The park has the amenities offered by most of the others, but two of its endowments are unique: the Royal Zoological Society’s Zoological Gardens (a very superior middle-sized city zoo; the society’s big zoo is at Whipsnade) and the Regent’s (Grand Union) Canal.
The medicinal park Chelsey was opened in 1673, its aim was to study medicinal properties of herbs.
To sum up, we can come to conclusion that Kazan parks are younger than London ones. They were laid out at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century (Chernoozersky Garden, Hermitage, “Panaevsky gardens”, Fux’s garden etc.) Some parks have recently appeared (Victory park, “Millenium”, “Shurale”). The history of London parks began from the Middle Ages when these territories were possession of wealthy people and were used for sheep or cattle grazing (Hampstead Heath) or for owners’ hunting (St. James’s, Green, Regent’s, Holland, Hyde Parks).
Why were parks created and what was their function in the life of citizens?
In the middle of May on the Trinity week the whole town got together in Russian Switzeland, which was the place of public merry-making. All local and new-coming celebrities rested here. There was a summer theatre (“rakushka”) in which young Fyodor Shalyapin earned his living acting here. On the 7th of September A.S.Pushkin was here and he watched the Arsky field attentively collecting the material for his book about Pugachyov’s rebellion.
At the entrance to the park there is a monument of a dying soldier.The architects are V.Nagorny, G.Pichuev, A.Sporius. The sculptor is V.M. Malikov. Eternal fire was a favourite place of young couples on their wedding day, they brought here flowers and took pictures. Now the park is on the reconstruction.
In Chernoozersky garden in summer, on an open stage, played orchestras, worked (all the year round) Ozhegov’s restaurant with a billiard-table, a skittle alley and a shooting gallery. The famous photographic pavilions of Madam Vyatkina functioned in the park and a fountain delighted the eye. In winter in the lower part of the garden a free public skating rink used to be arranged. It is the children’s park now. There is an artificial swimming bath, sport pavilions and playgrounds in it. Children’s sport school of figure skating is here.
Millenium park consists of several gardens with poetic names: “The Eastern”, “The Garden of Sorrow”, “Maidan”, “The Garden of Love”, used for organizing holidays.
The park “Shurale” is divided into three parts: extreme, family and children’s ones. Different competitions are often held here. It is for recreation and enjoyment of the public.
With its old, spreading trees, its wide stretches of carefully mown grass, its solid bandstands and asphalted paths, Hyde Park is like many other London parks, but there is a corner of it, near Marble Arch, the like of which is not to be found anywhere else in England, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. A century ago this little corner of London’s largest park used to be a favourite place for dueling. When it was that Englishmen gave up settling their differences with sword and pistol and decided to use their tongues instead, the historians do not tell us. Probably the tradition became established at the end of the last century, when the great political movements of the time had spread the desire for debate to all classes of the population.
Here, on wooden stands and soap-boxes and even on ordinary park chairs (if the park-keeper doesn’t spot them!) all kinds of men and women stand up and give their views on subjects that range from politics and religion to cures for rheumatism and the best way of getting on with your mother-in-law. Among the park’s orators there are serious speakers and cranks, jokers and fanatics, and some have no particular theme at all. Public debates are held there nearly every day. Sunday is the most popular day. There is a boating lake, and skating in the winter if the ice is 10centimetres thick. There is an open-air theatre where plays are put on in the summer, and a rose garden and a restaurant.
Among the many species of waterfowl to be seen in St. James’s Park are the pelicans originally introduced by Charles II. The northern border of the park is the Mall, a splendid ceremonial way that terminates at the bulky Queen Victoria Memorial, around which are planted each spring 40,000 tulips, succeeded by 14,000 geraniums.
In Green Park office workers can enjoy a peaceful picnic lunch under the dappled shade of the plane trees.
Stretching out on the grass or in a deck chair to listen to a band is a British tradition. Military and other bands give regular concerts throughout the summer at St. James’s and Regent’s Parks. Entrance to the parks is free and you may walk on the grass and lie down to rest on it. You can spend the whole day in the country – without leaving London.
Kensington Gardens was not opened to the general public until the mid-19th century and, until recently, still retained some feeling of elevated separateness, with nannies tending prams, although nowadays au pairs pushing strollers (push-chairs) are more usual. Expensive model boats are still sailed in the Round Pond and magnificent kites are still flown.
The British are famed for their gardens and love of flowers. St. James’s Park boasts some spectacular flower beds, filled with bulbs and bedding plants, which are changed every season. Hyde Park sports a magnificent show of daffodils and crocuses in the spring and London’s best rose garden is Queen Mary’s in Regent’s Park. In St. James’s Park one can see the best flower beds in Central London.
The Royal Botanical Gardens are famous for their horticultural collection and natural lands. The gardens have over 300 acres of beautiful gardens. Over 2,400 acres are wilderness and wetlands. In May, flowering cherry trees are in bloom, as well as lilacs, hydrangea and Mediterranean plants. Spring wildflowers and flowering spring bulbs are also in bloom. In June many flowers are in bloom including roses, irises, peonies, azaleas and rhododendrons. No wonder, in 2003 the Royal Botanical Gardens was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
If you visit the Royal Botanical Gardens, there is a café for a meal. However, it’s a perfect place to bring your own lunch and have a picnic in the gardens!
There are 30 kilometers of trails for nature lovers in it. Nature trails are open to visitors from dawn to dusk each day. No admission is charged, but there are donation boxes at most trail entrances. The Royal Botanical Gardens’ Centre is open to the public. From Thanksgiving through to the end of April, admission is free to open garden areas. Most other activities such as festivals and events are admission-based. Once in the gardens, you can take a red double-decker bus from one garden to another, and take a guided tour of the gardens.
The Gardens have several children’s activities. They offer family tours each day, and a family can borrow a Discovery Pack, free with admission. The Discovery Packs include activity guides and equipment for exploring nature in the gardens. Other festivals and events usually have a family part as well, such as children’s crafts or entertainers. They also offer children’s day camps during the summer. If you visit the gardens after April 29th, admission is $8 for adults, and $6 for seniors. It is $3 for children, and children 5 and under are free.
In Holland Park one can see beautiful flowers, forest plots with various exotic trees and plants and also Japanese park Kioto.
Periodic fairs, such as the Bartholomew Fair which began in England in 1133, are a parent for the modern amusement park. Beginning in the Elizabethan period the fair had evolved into a centre of amusement with entertainment, food, games and carnival – like break – show attractions. Amusement parks also grew out of the pleasure gardens that became especially popular at the beginning of the Industrial revolution as an area where one could escape from the grim urban environment. The most well – known of the parks in London was Vauxhall Gardens founded in 1661.
As we can see parks carry out different functions in the public’s life. Parks in Kazan can be divided into the following types:
1. park of culture and rest (Gorky park)
2. sport park (Central stadium)
3. park of entertainment (Shurale)
4. public garden (Chernoozersky, Fux’s garden)
5. park – exhibition (Millenium)
6. zoological gardens (zoo)
7. memorial park (Victory park)
8. park – reserve or the monuments of nature (Cedar park, Lenin’s house -
museum, forest experimental station in Tovaritscheskaya Street)
London parks are multifunctional and they can be symbolically divided into the following types:
botanical gardens (Kew, Kensington, Chelsey gardens)
children’s park (Battersea park)
zoological park (Regent’s park)
historical park (Hampton Court which has a network of gardens from different periods, starting with Tudor; Chiswick park in which statuary and pavilions of the 18th century can be seen)
ecological gardens (they have recently become fashionable, flowers are valued not only for their largeness and brightness, but also for originality of their structure and gracefulness of lines)
The world of plants and animals in English parks is much richer than in Kazan ones. Due to the warm Golfstream, the climate in England is wet and mild with thick fogs and sometimes rains, and it is ideal for growing all subtropical and even tropical plants. Various species of flora in English parks make harmony of colour and form. From the intimacy of the Chelsea Physic Garden, to the wild, open spaces of Hampstead Heath, every London park has its own charm and character.
Conclusion
The burgeoning of parks reflected contemporary intellectual, social, and economic changes that to a growing appreciation for the most scenic and historic places, a desire to escape the increasingly urban places that resulted from industrialization, and the popularization of the automobile. With increased awareness of and sensitivity toward nature came the desire to preserve some of the most spectacular landscapes and significant historical and cultural sites for the enjoyment of future generations.
After thorough analysis of information and comparison of the facts, I came to the conclusion that:
a number of parks in London is more than their number in Kazan;
parks and gardens in both cities are different and they carry out definite functions in citizens’ life;
there are ecological and medicinal gardens in London which cannot be met in Kazan;
parks and gardens are London’s peculiarity, they are trait of English character;
The Englishmen love nature and the greenery of their land. They try to decorate everything with flowers and plants, that’s why there are a lot of beautiful gardens in London with rosaries and well-kept lawns.
the culture of visits of English parks is higher than in our city;
Englishmen put their cars on the lawns, walk on them, but not a trace remains. Even after a great number of people on Sundays one can enjoy bright green carpet of the lawns.
gardening is Englishmen’s hobby, it’s on the second place after their main national madness horse-race. Everywhere one can see neatly-kept patch of grass surrounded by a great variety of flowers and shrubs. Due to gardening, English people can be calm and reserved in any life situations. In our city only “gorzelenkhoz” and elder people are engaged in growing flowers.
flora and fauna in English parks much richer than in Kazan ones;
English parks are home for 2000 species of plants and 100 species of birds.
In spite of the fact that Kazan has got a lot of diverse parks and gardens, it falls behind from London. Consequently, London is the city with favourable microclimatic and sanitary-hygienic conditions.
In conclusion I’d like to say that our dream is to see our city clean, beautiful and green. One million of different flowers appeared in the parks and public gardens last year. October was announced by Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin the month of making Kazan Green. Over 35,000 trees and about 50,000 bushes have been planted in the city throughout October.
The following measures should be taken to improve ecological situation in our city:
1.study the experience of landscape gardening of the capital of Great Britain;
2.not only increase of the number of the parks and gardens, but also preservation the existing one;
It will give the opportunity to provide one townsman of Kazan with greenery from 17.2 square meters to 25 square meters.
3.improvement of the culture of visits of parks and gardens;
4.creation of “buffer zones” where not only booking-offices, but also cafes, lavatories, shops are located.
In shops visitors could buy almost everything they need, even souvenirs with symbols of this place. Booklets, postcards, catalogues will be an excellent memory for visitors and for owners they will be good profit.
Due to these measures we solve ecological problems and enrich artistic expressiveness of architectural ensemble of our city.
The sun rises. The morning with its innocence and freshness is reflected in a million sparkling windows of the megapolis.
The day has begun. Voices and sounds fill the air of the city and finally it has become an immense creature. We are the part of this monster, its moving body, its brain, its blood.
Megapolis streets. They’re always full of silent thoughts, hopes, desires. Chains of people, hurrying somewhere on business, and we become a link of this chain. Drivers suffer from traffic jams accidents, pedestrians curse rush hours. People’s faces express nothing or only irritation. When the working day draws to a close, you are so exhausted and pinched, that the only thing that you want at this moment is to crawl into your bed and sleep, sleep, sleep. It’s the result of the mad rhythm in the world of the big city.
Yes, all people get adapted to this way of living; but people are not machines – their nerves, health and patience aren’t infinite. However strong your will is you’re feeling the stress of the routine. One of the best ways of coping with stress is to escape. To escape from the place where you spend your daily life, to escape fully; first of all with your mind, to give yourself a chance to recharge your life with new, bright and positive emotions. Every person is unique, each has a favourite method of escaping from a tiring and monotonous day. I myself like the idea of spending my day off in the park. It’s my cherished desire to get away from crowds when I have a rest. You feel calm and relaxed when the light breeze quietly rustles the leaves in the parks and gardens. The “lungs” of Kazan provide welcome relief from noise, exhaust, dust and grime of the streets.
These words were written in the 18th century, and they are not about our city, but as you can see the problem is the same. By the way, the creation of parks can reduce air pollution to 70-75%.
Maybe only madmen can live in a big city. Maybe. But as for me I can hardly do without all the hustle and bustle of my native city. So instead of speaking of one million of Kazan madmen I’d rather quote Samuel Johnson’s words who said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” To my mind it is 100 percent true. If you are tired of the city, most probably you need some relaxing hour in the park or in the city garden.
They are popular with old people and young. There are tempting opportunities here: you can sit on a bench reading a book or chatting with your friend, walk among old trees, relax and admire flowers and plants or play different games. You might find it interesting and amusing to meet different people here and have a nice time. Married couples come here with their very young children. Lots of people enjoy the picturesque scenery and breathe fresh air.
The aim of my work is to prove that parks and gardens of Kazan and London not only create favourable microclimatic and sanitary-hygienic conditions, but they also enrich the artistic expressiveness of architectural ensemble of the cities and they are favourite places of citizens’ rest.
To achieve the aim the following tasks must be solved:
1.to give the definition and classification of parks and gardens;
2.to make a comparative analysis of landscape-gardening of Kazan and London;
Why have I chosen these two cities? The reason is Kazan is my native town and London is considered to be the greenest city in Europe. Englishmen’s love to gardens is known all over the world.
The urgency of this theme is that the creation and preservation of parks and gardens is one of the decisions of the problems of big cities. Scientists consider that in the 21st century more than half of the population of the earth will live in cities.
The authority of our city understands the necessity of creation of new and preservation of old parks and gardens. In September 2005 Kazan specialists visited London where they got acquainted with landscape gardening complexes. During the visit they saw Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, St. James’ Park, London National Zoo, the palace gardens of Hampton Court.
For writing this work encyclopedias, reference and guide books, dictionaries “Britannica”, Internet were used.
This material might be used in region and country study lessons, in the work of young ecologists.
Chapter I. Types of parks
Park is a vast territory (not less than 10 hectares), on which the existing natural conditions (greenery, water basins) reconstructed using different devices of landscape architecture, green building and engineering improvement. It’s an independent architectural complex, used by public for pleasure and rest.
There are the following types of parks:
1. Park of culture and rest is a green massive which size, location, natural characteristics provide the best conditions for public’s rest and organization of different cultural, political and sport events. Trees and plants occupy 70-80 % of all square.
2. Sport park (stadium) is a territory on which different sport and cultural facilities are placed.
3. City park is a large grassy enclosed piece of land in a town, used for walks and rest.
4. Park-exhibition is a complex of pavilions for organizing exhibitions of city, regional, republic, state and international significance on the given theme. 35-40% of the territory is given to trees and plants.
5. Botanical park is a scientific, research and cultural establishment. It’s also used as a place of rest.
6. Zoological park is a scientific, research establishment where animals live in natural ecological conditions.
7. Forest park is a forest massive in or outside the city used for rest.
8. Park-preserve is a kind of “monument to nature”, having scientific, cultural and economic value. The visit is allowed only in the form of organized excursions. Facilities, necessary for scientific work, are located in the remote corners of the preserve.
9. The territory of the national park is vast. Besides the inspirational delight engendered by its own unique beauty, the purpose of every national park is to provide education about the basic natural values and processes that visitors are able to observe. It is a public resource for recreation, education, scholarship, and the preservation of endangered landscapes, natural communities, and species.
10. In historical park visitors get acquainted with historical monuments of landscape architecture. Preserved and reconstructed historical buildings are used for museums and exhibitions.
11. Ethnographic park is designed for demonstration of unique samples of living facilities of the past in the conditions of natural landscape. Visitors are also attracted by thematic exhibitions organized in the park. It’s also the place of public’s rest.
12. Memorial park is created on the territory connected with the names of outstanding political figures, scholars or cultural workers. This park usually has historical or cultural significance.
13. Children’s park is a green territory with favourable sanitary-hygienic conditions. It’s used for games and entertainment.
14. City garden is located in a living district, it’s less than a park. There are facilities for games and entertainment which are used by the people of the nearest houses.
Chapter II. Landscape gardening of Kazan and London
It is a moot point as to when the park is at its most beautiful. Is it in spring, when the meadows are bedecked with flowers and the forest turns green or in the autumn, with its numerous seasonal hues mirrored in the lakes, or perhaps in winter, when trees are hushed and shrouded in ice in the snowbound landscape? I think that people enjoy its beauty in all seasons.
To begin with let’s give some figures. The square of Kazan is 65000square kilometers, its population is more than one million people. The square of London is 1560square kilometers and the population is 7million people. Nowadays there are 123 parks, gardens and squares in our city, its area is 1504,7 hectars. In London there are 1700 parks, its square is 174 square kilometers. The greenery occupies 9631hectars in Kazan and 1550 square kilometers in London. These figures show Englishmen’s love to parks and gardens. They are eager to lay them out everywhere if there is a little land or water. Even on the barges near the Regent’s canal one can see small gardens.
Kazan and London parks have their own history and fortune. Let’s consider some of them.
I’d like to say that there was always an abundance of greenery in our city: some of the old gardens and parks have gone (for example, Derzhavinsky, Panaevsky Gardens), others still invite the citizens into their shade ( Central park named after M.Gorky, Leninsky Garden, Gardens “Hermitage”, Fux’s Garden). Some of them have been recently laid out (“Shurale”, Victory park, Millenium park).
Once in Freedom Square was a small green garden – Derzhavinsky one with a fountain.. In the place of the Musa Dzalil Opera and Ballet Theatre in the 19th century stood the monument to the outstanding poet G.Derzhavin born in the Kazan Province and a graduate of a Kazan gymnasium.
I’m happy to say that this monument has been already restored. I think that the role of Nikolay Belyaev and other Kazan poets is significant in it. Their poems were heard and it was decided to correct historical injustice.
The present-day stadium “Dinamo” was formerly called “Panaevsky gardens” after the owners – the Panaevs. There were several theatres, a summer stage and a chess club in the gardens. In 1917 the gardens was purchased by the Duma and since then had become city possession. The entrance into the gardens was paid – 20 kopecks. The gardens were opened from 7p.m. to 3a.m. in summer. In 1896 they began demonstrating cinema performances in Panaevsky gardens.
The Central park of culture and rest was named after M.Gorky. In the times of khan’s government yet, there was a wonderful linden grove in this place; one of many, which thick Arsky wood started with. In the 18th century the town began to grow taking the territory of Arsky field. When the town borders got close to present Tolstoi Street, the forest began being rendered habitable. Wealthy townspeople started to build country-houses and cultivate gardens here. In early 19th century the forest got an unusual name – “Russian Switzeland”. It’s interesting that this place really reminded picturesque hills of Switzeland and first it was noticed by professor of physics of Kazan Imperial University herr Bronner. From him the forest got its beautiful name.
After the revolution the park was desolated, but in 1936 Russian Switzeland was renamed into the Gorky park of culture and rest.
Speaking about “Russian Switzeland” we can’t but mention about “German Switzeland.” Some time ago there was behind Arsky cemetery and the lunatic asylum in the name of All Sorrowful (today the psychoneurologic sanitarium) a very famous forest in Kazan which was called “German Switzeland”. It was a quiet and calm place with country houses-dachas, where townsfolk families mostly with German last names spent their summers.
This dacha place was founded in the first half of the 19th century by professor of Kazan Imperial University L.L.Fogel. During several years he was searching for medical and mineral springs here. But all the springs, found by Fogel, had tasty, but usual water. At last he built a country-house in this forest on the bank of the Kazanka in order to make researches all the summer. Fogel’s university friends, also Germans, liked this place. After them, having discovered that this place was suitable for summer rest, other German families came along. Soon the forest turned into real German dacha society. And witty townspeople by analogy with “Russian Switzeland” called it “German Switzeland”.
The garden “Hermitage” is of great historical and cultural significance. Its square is 3.9 hectares.
Nowadays there are 529 trees on its territory, you can also find there some exotic plants and trees, for example, bird-cherry tree Maaka, Hungarian lilac-bush, 166 species of fir-trees etc. No doubt, it is a real monument of nature.
I should say it’s a sadly famous place. Like in far-away England, where castles with ghosts are said to be met, in our city there is a mysterious grove-garden. The austere look of this garden corresponds to its no less solemn history connected with the grievous fate of its owner.
I’d like to tell you a horrible story. Do you believe and like mysteries? I hope you do.
In the first quarter of the 19th century the mining engineer and gentleman by birth Nikolai Vorozhtzov purchased an estate with a grove on the right-hand side of Starogorshechnaya Street (in the corner of Shchapov and Mayakovsky streets). He had installed two or three modest sculptures imitating ancient ones and called it a garden. Then he brought his wife and children to the estate and at first sight led normal life of a town resident. And though his life was rather unsociable, and he was not at all fond of balls, didn’t endure visitors, the rumours crept that the engineer Vorozhtsov was doing various impious things and that he had malicious and even fierce character. He beat his house-serfs mercilessly experiencing a kind of morbid delight. He could even whip them to death for the slightest fault. Vorozhtsov personally buried those who died in the garden without any burial service. He was said to have killed thus several dozen serfs, and his garden turned into a real cemetery, though without crosses and tombstones. Maybe there are still souls of these people moving through the garden. Who knows?!
Vorozhtsov whipped to death and also buried in the garden his own son, who tried to inform on him to authorities. His daughter left home. And his wife after the death of her husband in 1857 left for Sviyazhsky Convent to atone for his sins by prayer.
Since then the garden has stood neglected and gloomy. The town authorities tried more than once to bring it into a proper state and to arrange here one more recreation zone for Kazaneers. In 1906-1907 there was opened a café, and the “dirty” place itself got the name “Hermitage”. The cyclodrom, where bicyclists made their first attempts, and the circus which successfully worked, but burnt in 1912 added originality to this place.
In the 50’s of the 20th century an open-air cinema and children’s playground were arranged there, but they also didn’t “settle down”. Today the garden stands overgrown and gloomy, inspiring depression in passers-by. Some people even say that it is an “evil place.” One of sights of which is the dilapidated statue of an elephant. God knows where it appeared from.
Chernoozersky Garden was named after the lake which was filled up in 1889-91 because it was badly polluted and, as a result, fetid. Though in the old days it was not only very clean, but fishy and the water of it was considered the best for baking kalatches. In 1829 yet the lake banks were decorated with terraces, covered with turf and planted with trees. In 1847 the garden was surrounded with a cast-iron fence which cost the town purse 7 thousand roubles. In the late 19th century Chernoozersky garden was a favourite place for the townspeople’s strolls.
Leninsky Garden is the students’ favourite place. Some trees are more than 100 years old, they’ve seen a lot in their life. If you touch them, maybe, they’ll tell you their secrets.
Once on this site there was a marsh around which stood blacksmith’s workshops. They gave a name to the square – Kuznechnaya. In 1842s, under the governor S.P. Shipov, the marsh and mud were filled up, the smithies were removed and the place was transformed into a drill square for training soldiers. In honour of Emperor Nikolai I visit to Kazan in 1837 the square was named after him. In 1890 Kazan received All-Russian scientific-industrial exhibition the pavilions of which were located on Nikolaevskaya Square. After the exhibition closing they laid out a public garden on this site and planted trees which survived till nowadays.
In 1894 the founder of Kazan water-supply Gubonin set up here a fountain in the form of two Cupids. It has remained though many details were lost. Near the fountain stood a tented kiosk where they sold mineral water. In 1926 the garden was renamed after Lenin, but nevertheless they continued to sell water, ice-cream and pies here. There was also a fountain representing a sea lion surrounded by small penguins. In 1978 the monument to the great chemist A.M. Butlerov (1828-86) was erected on this very site.
In 2005 our city celebrated its millennium. On the 26th of August 2005 Millennium park was opened. It is situated in the central part of our city, between the buildings of “Tatenergo” office and Baskethall. Its area is 5.6 hectars, but it will be 16.
“Shurale” is a character of Gabdulla Tukay’s fairy tale. The park itself is also like a fairy tale. The park was opened in 2004 and has become the pride of our city.
As for English gardens they in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries had three main purposes. First, they were places for exercise and sport; second, they were places to grow fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers; and third, they were places for entertaining and showing off.
These three functions recur from generation to generation as the story of English gardening unfolds.
It follows that the design of the park – its layout and its plantings – was often determined by the need to control animal movements and to protect the land from overgrazing. Later on (c.1800), the sight of sheep or cattle grazing in the parkland came to be considered an essential part of the parkland’s allure.
By 1800 almost every squire in England had converted the land around his house into a flowing landscape garden.
The usual way to lay out a park was to survey the estate – a useful exercise – and to start by making maps which showed the colours and some of the existing features, including the better trees.
Grazing land and grazing animals were allowed in the park – indeed they were essential to this rural idyll – but the movement of grazing animals had to be carefully regulated and controlled, so that fences and enclosures were disguised as belts, clumps and ditches.
Landscaped parks were symbols of power and wealth. They recalled the ancient deer parks of Tudor times, but could be made and maintained at a fraction of the cost. Any landowner could make a landscaped park. Some did so by themselves, without advice from a designer, but most parks were made with a measure of help from local advisers – a steward or an architect, for example.
Behind Whitehall’s ministries and Downing Street, westward toward Buckingham Palace, lies St. James’s Park, the oldest and most ornamental of the six central Royal Parks that give the West end of London a heritage of beauty, repose, and sense of continuity. The swampy ground belonging to the Sisters of St. James - in – the Field was taken in 1532 by Henry VIII, who built nearby St. James’s Palace, like a red – brick toy – soldier castle. It was originally a nursery for Henry VIII deer along with a tilt-yard (for jousting) and bowling alley. The Stuarts admitted the public to the park, which Charles II had done up in the formal Versailles manner. George IV had the park redesigned in its present seductive form by John Nash in 1828. The beauty of its layout today is largely due to him. The formal “canal’ was changed into a long, irregular lake graced with a small bridge from which the Whitehall buildings, topped with pinnacles and towers, form a rather “Arabian nights” silhouette. The weeping willows around the lake also lend an Oriental touch to what is an archetypal (and extremely artful) English landscape.
Green Park, close by, is an unpretentious stretch of especially thick, rich grass and luxuriant stands of trees, the plainest of the Royal Parks. It was in the past a favourite place for duelists and highwaymen. Now the park is a quiet, wooded place.
Hyde Park was a forest and it belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey. In 1556 these lands were taken by Henry VIII. Since then the park became royal, then city, and in the 18th century the public was admitted to the park.
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together have an area of 615 acres. From an Italianate water garden in Kensington Gardens flows the Long Water, which, once it enters Hyde Park, becomes the Serpentine, where, depending on the weather and the hardiness of participants, there is boating and ice-skating or, at a strand called the Lido, swimming. William III nipped 26 acres off the western end of Hyde Park in 1689 to make a garden for Kensington Palace, enlarged by further acquisitions in succeeding reigns.
Regent’s Park, with Primrose Hill abutting, is about a quarter of an hour’s walk north from Marble Arch. This parkland, too, was part of Henry VIII hunting preserve. The park has the amenities offered by most of the others, but two of its endowments are unique: the Royal Zoological Society’s Zoological Gardens (a very superior middle-sized city zoo; the society’s big zoo is at Whipsnade) and the Regent’s (Grand Union) Canal.
The medicinal park Chelsey was opened in 1673, its aim was to study medicinal properties of herbs.
To sum up, we can come to conclusion that Kazan parks are younger than London ones. They were laid out at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century (Chernoozersky Garden, Hermitage, “Panaevsky gardens”, Fux’s garden etc.) Some parks have recently appeared (Victory park, “Millenium”, “Shurale”). The history of London parks began from the Middle Ages when these territories were possession of wealthy people and were used for sheep or cattle grazing (Hampstead Heath) or for owners’ hunting (St. James’s, Green, Regent’s, Holland, Hyde Parks).
Why were parks created and what was their function in the life of citizens?
In the middle of May on the Trinity week the whole town got together in Russian Switzeland, which was the place of public merry-making. All local and new-coming celebrities rested here. There was a summer theatre (“rakushka”) in which young Fyodor Shalyapin earned his living acting here. On the 7th of September A.S.Pushkin was here and he watched the Arsky field attentively collecting the material for his book about Pugachyov’s rebellion.
At the entrance to the park there is a monument of a dying soldier.The architects are V.Nagorny, G.Pichuev, A.Sporius. The sculptor is V.M. Malikov. Eternal fire was a favourite place of young couples on their wedding day, they brought here flowers and took pictures. Now the park is on the reconstruction.
In Chernoozersky garden in summer, on an open stage, played orchestras, worked (all the year round) Ozhegov’s restaurant with a billiard-table, a skittle alley and a shooting gallery. The famous photographic pavilions of Madam Vyatkina functioned in the park and a fountain delighted the eye. In winter in the lower part of the garden a free public skating rink used to be arranged. It is the children’s park now. There is an artificial swimming bath, sport pavilions and playgrounds in it. Children’s sport school of figure skating is here.
Millenium park consists of several gardens with poetic names: “The Eastern”, “The Garden of Sorrow”, “Maidan”, “The Garden of Love”, used for organizing holidays.
The park “Shurale” is divided into three parts: extreme, family and children’s ones. Different competitions are often held here. It is for recreation and enjoyment of the public.
With its old, spreading trees, its wide stretches of carefully mown grass, its solid bandstands and asphalted paths, Hyde Park is like many other London parks, but there is a corner of it, near Marble Arch, the like of which is not to be found anywhere else in England, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. A century ago this little corner of London’s largest park used to be a favourite place for dueling. When it was that Englishmen gave up settling their differences with sword and pistol and decided to use their tongues instead, the historians do not tell us. Probably the tradition became established at the end of the last century, when the great political movements of the time had spread the desire for debate to all classes of the population.
Here, on wooden stands and soap-boxes and even on ordinary park chairs (if the park-keeper doesn’t spot them!) all kinds of men and women stand up and give their views on subjects that range from politics and religion to cures for rheumatism and the best way of getting on with your mother-in-law. Among the park’s orators there are serious speakers and cranks, jokers and fanatics, and some have no particular theme at all. Public debates are held there nearly every day. Sunday is the most popular day. There is a boating lake, and skating in the winter if the ice is 10centimetres thick. There is an open-air theatre where plays are put on in the summer, and a rose garden and a restaurant.
Among the many species of waterfowl to be seen in St. James’s Park are the pelicans originally introduced by Charles II. The northern border of the park is the Mall, a splendid ceremonial way that terminates at the bulky Queen Victoria Memorial, around which are planted each spring 40,000 tulips, succeeded by 14,000 geraniums.
In Green Park office workers can enjoy a peaceful picnic lunch under the dappled shade of the plane trees.
Stretching out on the grass or in a deck chair to listen to a band is a British tradition. Military and other bands give regular concerts throughout the summer at St. James’s and Regent’s Parks. Entrance to the parks is free and you may walk on the grass and lie down to rest on it. You can spend the whole day in the country – without leaving London.
Kensington Gardens was not opened to the general public until the mid-19th century and, until recently, still retained some feeling of elevated separateness, with nannies tending prams, although nowadays au pairs pushing strollers (push-chairs) are more usual. Expensive model boats are still sailed in the Round Pond and magnificent kites are still flown.
The British are famed for their gardens and love of flowers. St. James’s Park boasts some spectacular flower beds, filled with bulbs and bedding plants, which are changed every season. Hyde Park sports a magnificent show of daffodils and crocuses in the spring and London’s best rose garden is Queen Mary’s in Regent’s Park. In St. James’s Park one can see the best flower beds in Central London.
The Royal Botanical Gardens are famous for their horticultural collection and natural lands. The gardens have over 300 acres of beautiful gardens. Over 2,400 acres are wilderness and wetlands. In May, flowering cherry trees are in bloom, as well as lilacs, hydrangea and Mediterranean plants. Spring wildflowers and flowering spring bulbs are also in bloom. In June many flowers are in bloom including roses, irises, peonies, azaleas and rhododendrons. No wonder, in 2003 the Royal Botanical Gardens was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
If you visit the Royal Botanical Gardens, there is a café for a meal. However, it’s a perfect place to bring your own lunch and have a picnic in the gardens!
There are 30 kilometers of trails for nature lovers in it. Nature trails are open to visitors from dawn to dusk each day. No admission is charged, but there are donation boxes at most trail entrances. The Royal Botanical Gardens’ Centre is open to the public. From Thanksgiving through to the end of April, admission is free to open garden areas. Most other activities such as festivals and events are admission-based. Once in the gardens, you can take a red double-decker bus from one garden to another, and take a guided tour of the gardens.
The Gardens have several children’s activities. They offer family tours each day, and a family can borrow a Discovery Pack, free with admission. The Discovery Packs include activity guides and equipment for exploring nature in the gardens. Other festivals and events usually have a family part as well, such as children’s crafts or entertainers. They also offer children’s day camps during the summer. If you visit the gardens after April 29th, admission is $8 for adults, and $6 for seniors. It is $3 for children, and children 5 and under are free.
In Holland Park one can see beautiful flowers, forest plots with various exotic trees and plants and also Japanese park Kioto.
Periodic fairs, such as the Bartholomew Fair which began in England in 1133, are a parent for the modern amusement park. Beginning in the Elizabethan period the fair had evolved into a centre of amusement with entertainment, food, games and carnival – like break – show attractions. Amusement parks also grew out of the pleasure gardens that became especially popular at the beginning of the Industrial revolution as an area where one could escape from the grim urban environment. The most well – known of the parks in London was Vauxhall Gardens founded in 1661.
As we can see parks carry out different functions in the public’s life. Parks in Kazan can be divided into the following types:
1. park of culture and rest (Gorky park)
2. sport park (Central stadium)
3. park of entertainment (Shurale)
4. public garden (Chernoozersky, Fux’s garden)
5. park – exhibition (Millenium)
6. zoological gardens (zoo)
7. memorial park (Victory park)
8. park – reserve or the monuments of nature (Cedar park, Lenin’s house -
museum, forest experimental station in Tovaritscheskaya Street)
London parks are multifunctional and they can be symbolically divided into the following types:
botanical gardens (Kew, Kensington, Chelsey gardens)
children’s park (Battersea park)
zoological park (Regent’s park)
historical park (Hampton Court which has a network of gardens from different periods, starting with Tudor; Chiswick park in which statuary and pavilions of the 18th century can be seen)
ecological gardens (they have recently become fashionable, flowers are valued not only for their largeness and brightness, but also for originality of their structure and gracefulness of lines)
The world of plants and animals in English parks is much richer than in Kazan ones. Due to the warm Golfstream, the climate in England is wet and mild with thick fogs and sometimes rains, and it is ideal for growing all subtropical and even tropical plants. Various species of flora in English parks make harmony of colour and form. From the intimacy of the Chelsea Physic Garden, to the wild, open spaces of Hampstead Heath, every London park has its own charm and character.
Conclusion
The burgeoning of parks reflected contemporary intellectual, social, and economic changes that to a growing appreciation for the most scenic and historic places, a desire to escape the increasingly urban places that resulted from industrialization, and the popularization of the automobile. With increased awareness of and sensitivity toward nature came the desire to preserve some of the most spectacular landscapes and significant historical and cultural sites for the enjoyment of future generations.
After thorough analysis of information and comparison of the facts, I came to the conclusion that:
a number of parks in London is more than their number in Kazan;
parks and gardens in both cities are different and they carry out definite functions in citizens’ life;
there are ecological and medicinal gardens in London which cannot be met in Kazan;
parks and gardens are London’s peculiarity, they are trait of English character;
The Englishmen love nature and the greenery of their land. They try to decorate everything with flowers and plants, that’s why there are a lot of beautiful gardens in London with rosaries and well-kept lawns.
the culture of visits of English parks is higher than in our city;
Englishmen put their cars on the lawns, walk on them, but not a trace remains. Even after a great number of people on Sundays one can enjoy bright green carpet of the lawns.
gardening is Englishmen’s hobby, it’s on the second place after their main national madness horse-race. Everywhere one can see neatly-kept patch of grass surrounded by a great variety of flowers and shrubs. Due to gardening, English people can be calm and reserved in any life situations. In our city only “gorzelenkhoz” and elder people are engaged in growing flowers.
flora and fauna in English parks much richer than in Kazan ones;
English parks are home for 2000 species of plants and 100 species of birds.
In spite of the fact that Kazan has got a lot of diverse parks and gardens, it falls behind from London. Consequently, London is the city with favourable microclimatic and sanitary-hygienic conditions.
In conclusion I’d like to say that our dream is to see our city clean, beautiful and green. One million of different flowers appeared in the parks and public gardens last year. October was announced by Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin the month of making Kazan Green. Over 35,000 trees and about 50,000 bushes have been planted in the city throughout October.
The following measures should be taken to improve ecological situation in our city:
1.study the experience of landscape gardening of the capital of Great Britain;
2.not only increase of the number of the parks and gardens, but also preservation the existing one;
It will give the opportunity to provide one townsman of Kazan with greenery from 17.2 square meters to 25 square meters.
3.improvement of the culture of visits of parks and gardens;
4.creation of “buffer zones” where not only booking-offices, but also cafes, lavatories, shops are located.
In shops visitors could buy almost everything they need, even souvenirs with symbols of this place. Booklets, postcards, catalogues will be an excellent memory for visitors and for owners they will be good profit.
Due to these measures we solve ecological problems and enrich artistic expressiveness of architectural ensemble of our city.
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