Kadriorg Park is Estonia's most famous artificial park, which celebrated its 290th anniversary in 2008. At the time of its creation, it covered about 100 hectares.
In 1719, on 22 July 22, Peter the Great, together with the architect Nicolo Michetti, measured the territory for the future "new palace" and regular park. The park was laid out on three gentle natural terraces, which were cleared of boulders, levelled and covered with chernozem. The largest terrace, located in front of the palace, was occupied by the lower garden. Its main axis was directed towards the palace. The upper garden, located behind the palace, occupied 2 levels: a flower garden ending with a lattice wall with fountains and a pond of mirages, located behind this wall on the upper ledge.
Ponds were dug when the park was laid out, the purpose of which was both to enliven the landscape and to drain the soil. The oldest of them were the pond in the courtyard of the Marininsky orphanage, the upper pond between the palace and Peter's house, the Swan pond in the western part of the park, and the pond north of the present Kadri road.
One of the most interesting and famous places in the park is the symmetrical Swan Pond and its surroundings. Across the street from this pond was originally a lush Italian-French regular park, now dense with tall trees. The original plan was to keep most of the park in its natural landscape of meadows and meadows, with only paths and tracks. Only a small area of the park was designed as a regular park.
To speed up the work on the formation of the park, it was decided to plant already large trees. In 1722, 550 trees were planted by soldiers during the year. Some of the trees, this primarily concerned chestnuts, were later planned to be taken to the gardens of St. Petersburg. However, this idea, due to the death of Peter the Great, was soon forgotten, and the chestnuts remained in Kardiorg Park.
Near Weizenbergi Street, which was often used to walk past the swan pond to the palace, there are several palace annexes. Some of them now house the restoration workshops of the Estonian Art Museum. Opposite the palace gate is a guard house, followed by an ice cellar and a kitchen. The kitchen building, which has been restored, now houses the Johannes Mikkel Museum, which introduces the collection of this famous art collector.
At the end of the 18th century, the appearance of the central part of the park changed, as the trees were no longer pruned, they became increasingly sprawling and the park became landscape-like. Therefore, the picturesque view that used to be available from the palace windows of the Old Town and the bay was hidden behind a wall of overgrown trees. The layout of the upper part of the garden also changed: the President's rose garden replaced the mirage pond.
