The gazebos were meant to provide shelter from the sun and summer rain. They were light openwork structures, easy to disassemble or even move to another place. Mostly wooden, with multi-sloped roofs, as a rule, they had a regular polygon or circle plan, with an entrance on one side and benches located at the low walls. They were often raised on foundations so that in the event of a downpour, the water flooding the ground would not get inside. The larger ones had enough space inside for garden armchairs or deckchairs and tables; you could relax here, receive guests and even eat meals.
In large assumptions of baroque gardens, a fashion developed for decorative, brick gazebos with domed roofs and carved columns.They took the form of rotundas or, modeled on antiquity, monopteroses. They were circular in shape and surrounded by a dense colonnade. In later centuries, gazebos resembling Gothic chapels or Chinese pagodas were erected in the gardens. They were built, especially in the Baroque style, at the crossroads or at the end of the compositional axes. Gazebos on mounds or in the corners of terraces were also popular. They were also often situated on artificial or natural islands of lakes and garden ponds. There must always have been a beautiful view from the gazebo.
Modern gazebos
The tradition of building gazebos has not been lost and can still be found in home gardens, plots and playgrounds for children. Most often, they are ready-made, wooden "houses", which are bought in garden centers alongside other elements of small architecture: pergolas, trellises, fencing spans, fences and houses for gardening tools. They have a square or hexagonal plan and the walls are made of diagonally joined slats.
But in addition to the standard ones, there are also original ones, built according to your own idea and design.For example, the so-called mushroom, or conical roof, supported on a single, centrally positioned pole. This roof can be wooden, tiled or shingled, but it can also be straw or reed. There are also thinners, i.e. openwork structures without a permanent roof, overgrown with greenery, mostly climbers, also casting a shadow from above to the inside. The gazebo can be in the form of a tent or umbrella, a dwarf's hut and a soap bubble; it all depends on the fantasy of the owners, the nature of the garden and the neighboring house. A gazebo that resembles the building with its material, shape, color or at least a detail blends in nicely in the garden. The same roof covering, balcony railing thread, used as a gazebo wall, or a foundation identical to the pedestal on the building - all this binds a large architecture with a small one, giving order and elegance to the whole.
Where to plan a gazeboThe location of the gazebo must be thought out and properly selected. Today it is difficult to find large gardens-parks, as a rule we have to be content with a small plot of land where there will be no crossroads, no mound or lake.Then at least let's think about planting beautiful, fragrant and colorful plants nearby; let them replace the old viewpoints and landscape landscapes for people looking for a respite in the gazebo.
