Monrepos Park
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Mon Repos or Monrepos (
The manor of Monrepos was established by Baron Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay who bought this parcel of land in 1788. The estate was considered a jewel of Old Finland 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) (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
also designed pavilions and statuary for Monrepos.The park is noted for its rocks, mostly from the old Wiborgite granite (which is named after Vyborg), and for some glacial formations of up to 20 metres (66 ft) high. Some 50 species of plants can be found, some of them being rare. Its fauna is diverse as well.
Further reading
- Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, Das Landgut Monrepos in Finnland, (1804), Faksimile der Ausgabe 1840, (1995), herausgegeben von der Pückler-Gesellschaft e.V., Berlin
- Renée Elton Maud, One Year at the Russian Court: 1904–1905, (1918), John Lane, London
- Edmund Heier, L. H. Nicolay (1737–1820) and his contemporaries, (1965), Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague
- Paul Gundersen, Paul Nicolay of Monrepos – a European with a difference, (2003), Näkymä, Publishers, Helsinki
- Rainer Knapas, Monrepos, Ludwig Heinrich Nicolay och hans värld i 1700-talets ryska Finland, (2003), Atlantis, Stockholm
- Rainer Knapas, Monrepos, une arcadie des lumières, Saint-Pétersbourg, Vyborg, Helsinki, (2008), Société de Littérature Finnoise, Helsinki
External links
Media related to Monrepos at Wikimedia Commons- Official site of Mon Repos park
