For those who want to show off their knowledge of the terminology of landscape architects, we begin the heading: “Glossary”.

BERSO (fr. Berceau – cradle, cradle) is a garden and park structure, a gallery, a passage formed by vertical walls such as a trellis for climbing plants and an arched ceiling resembling an inverted cradle (hence the name). Such covered alleys, in the cool shade of which ladies and gentlemen walked, along with other whims, appeared in French parks of the regular style of the second half of the 17th century, in particular in the famous park of Versailles, and then became widespread in landscape parks of the 18th century. The prototype of the 18th century bersot is the green tunnels of the gardens of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which were created from elastic willow twigs – young shoots were connected at the top and they formed a kind of living green tunnel.

Bersault differs from a pergola in the presence of a vault of trees. At the end of the covered alley, a gazebo was usually placed. Bersot were temporary structures, but their images have survived in engravings and watercolors. In Russia, these structures were often called “bend or covered roads”.

In the Summer Garden, the berso can be seen on the School Alley next to the Main parterre, at the entrance to the Green Cabinets and the Cross Gulbische bosquet.

Enjoy your walks in the gardens of the Russian Museum.

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