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Extract

Some corner of a foreign land

On the Great Lake of the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, outside St Petersburg, stands this peaceful Turkish bath, an ironic legacy of a century of intermittent warfare. By Rose Baring. Photographs by Francesco Venturi

Summer home to countless Romanovs, the palace and gardens of Tsarskoye Selo were laid out in the 18th century under Catherine the Great, a passionate devotee of the naturalistic style of English landscaping. ‘I adore English gardens.’ she told Voltaire, ‘with their curved lines, pente-douces, ponds like lakes… I hate fountains that torture water into running contrary to its nature.’ Her garderners, the aptly named John Bush, and his son Joseph, were of course English.

Just as in England, at the time, inspiration for the various follies and pavilions that dot the serene landscape was eclectic. There are Chinese pavilions, classical columns, gothic boathouses and baroque grottoes.

The Turkish Bath was a late edition to the ensemble, built by the little-known Italian architect Ippolito Monghetti in 1852, in ironic commemoration of the Russo–Turkish War of 1828–29…

To read the full article, purchase Issue 15

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Issue 15, 1998 Mountain Secrets
£12.00 / $15.80 / €14.33
Other Highlights from Cornucopia 15
  • The Noble Heart

    A glorious thistle, the globe artichoke merits better than the usual simple boiling, especially if it is the giant Turkish globe, with its huge mouth-watering centre. Berrin Torolsan reveals how to do it justice

  • Home is where the yurt is

    Out of sight of the sea, high above Göcek Marina at Huzur Yadisi, another green peace prevails. In a hidden valley, Richard Tredennick-Titchen found an encampment of yurts that dramatically changed his life.


  • Four men and a snowcock

    One of Turkey’s finest birds is the grouse-like Caspian snowcock. To find it takes some organising, for it lives way above the summer pastures in remote areas such as the Aladaglar, the highest part of the Taurus Mountains.


  • The Holy Mountain

    Ottoman Athos unveiled: an unprecedented portrait of the glorious backdrop to a thousand years of unworldly devotion and Byzantine intrigue, By Anthony Bryer, with photographs by Graham Speake


  • The Primrose Path

    In the garden we may take them for granted, but in the wild, their colours make the heart sing. Andrew Byfield celebrates the vibrant beauty of Turkey’s primulas.

Buy the issue
Issue 15, 1998 Mountain Secrets
£12.00 / $15.80 / 541.16 TL
Available from the Cornucopia Store
  • War and Peace

    The London Academy of Ottoman Court Music, with Emre Araci

    £ 7.50
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