Pergola
– Description:
– Pergola is an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway or sitting area.
– Its origin is from Late Latin, referring to a projecting eave.
– It can be an extension of a building or serve as protection for open terraces.
– Pergolas are different from green tunnels and are often confused with arbors.
– Modern pergola structures can include architectural designs like those used in California High-Speed Rail.
– Features and types:
– Pergolas can link pavilions or extend to isolated garden features.
– Freestanding pergolas provide a sitting area with protection from direct sunlight.
– They offer climbing plants a structure to grow.
– Leonardo da Vinci created an illusion of a pergola in the Sala delle Asse in Milan.
– The project was commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza.
– Green tunnels:
– Pergolas are more permanent than green tunnels in medieval gardens.
– Green tunnels were made of springy withies and climbers for a cool passage.
– The Medici villa, La Petraia, had inner and outer green walks resembling pergolas.
– History:
– The word “pergola” originates from Late Latin and was borrowed from Italian.
– Pergolas fell from favor in naturalistic gardening styles but were revived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
– Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll designed gardens with handsome pergolas.
– The Hill in Hampstead features an extensive pergola designed by Thomas Mawson.
– The pergola in Wrocław became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.
– Modern pergolas:
– Modern pergolas use materials like wood, vinyl, fiberglass, and aluminum.
– Wooden pergolas are made from weather-resistant wood like western red cedar.
– Contemporary materials like vinyl and fiberglass are low maintenance alternatives to wood.
– Modern pergolas can be motorized for opening and closing.
– California High-Speed Rail uses large concrete pergolas to support rail guideways.
A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The origin of the word is the Late Latin pergula, referring to a projecting eave.
It also may be an extension of a building or serve as protection for an open terrace or a link between pavilions. They are different from green tunnels, with a green tunnel being a type of road under a canopy of trees.
Pergolas are sometimes confused with "arbors," as the terms are used interchangeably. Generally, an "arbor" is regarded as wooden bench seats with a roof, usually enclosed by lattice panels forming a framework for climbing plants; in evangelical Christianity, brush arbor revivals occur under such structures. A pergola, on the other hand, is a much larger and more open structure. Normally, a pergola does not include integral seating.
Modern pergola structures can also include architectural or engineering structures having a pergola design, which are not used in gardens. California High-Speed Rail, for instance, uses large concrete pergolas to support high-speed rail guideways which cut over roadways or other rail tracks at shallow angles (unlike bridges or over-crossings which are usually nearly at right angles). (See the high-speed rail pergola structure picture elsewhere in the article for an illustration.)