Estate Landscape as Exhibition Space: Drawing on the Experience of the Ostafyevo State Museum

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the function of the estate landscape in a Russian country estate of the late 18th and the 19th century by looking at the example of the Ostafyevo—The Russian Parnassus Estate Museum. From our point of view, a museum landscape has a dual role. On the one hand, the estate gardens, as a whole, can be considered as a museum exhibit, which communicates to the visitor a special mood: the characteristic atmosphere of a Russian country estate of that period and its owners’ vision and values. This means that the landscape should be as close to the original as possible, and it is therefore important to try to make it look completely authentic. On the other hand, the gardens can contain features such as small buildings, recreational facilities, etc., which are typical of contemporary park design, even if they were not incorporated in this particular estate. This is because a museum landscape has a second role—that of an exhibition space.