GazeboIn both western and
oriental countries, gazebos have been fixtures in gardens for
many centuries. In China and Japan, people call it a pavilion.
Their popularity and presence have become more widespread with
every generation, and they have emerged as the most prevalent
outdoor garden structures in the world. Originally called
summerhouses, screen houses, kiosks, pavilions, pergolas,
arbors, grottos, or pagodas, the existence of gazebos has been
traced to the earliest gardens. Gazebos actually started out
as towers or lanterns on the roofs of houses, and were built
specifically to provide an advantageous view of the
surrounding areas. It wasn¡¯t until years and years later that
the structures were built on the ground as summerhouses.
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Gazebos were very common in old Egyptian gardens centuries
ago. As you might depict that, members of royal family were the
first to set up gazebos in their gardens. In fact, they thought of
their gardens as paradises on the earth, and believed they could
take them to their afterlife. When one wished to do so, it was
customary to have the plans for their dwellings and a complete
layout of the garden depicted in a mural in one¡¯s tomb. Such murals,
gazebos painted on it, have been found in different tombs that could
be dated back to 1400 B.C. The structures were also popular in
ancient Rome and Pompeii. As the population of Rome increased, the
affluent and aristocratic began building summerhouses along the
Mediterranean, complete with gazebos. Also widespread in the East,
gazebos in tenth-century Persian gardens were anything from colorful
tents with mats on the floors, to ornate, two-story structures with
cupolas, marble columns, and golden seats. Some were even built
across pools or streams so that the cold water running beneath their
marble floors would help to cool the gazebos in the hot summer.
Others were actually used as tombs for their owners. China¡¯s gazebos
were also quite elaborate, while those in Japan, often called
teahouses, were used in conjunction with the revered tea ceremonies,
and were the places to rest, and help people to carry out spiritual
events.
Some people still think their gazebos to be the
ultimate places to relax in quiet meditation while they listen to
birds sing in the trees, enjoy a cooling breeze in the autumn
evening, or take in the beauty and the sweet scents of their newly
cut gardens grasses. Others visualize them as outdoor dining area,
perfect for hosting brunches and luncheons. It has become very
trendy to put a pretty, lace cloth on a table, with a centerpiece of
freshly picked flowers, an attractive tea set, elegant place
settings, finger sandwiches and petit fours, and host a high tea to
your friends in a gazebo. Further from the main house, gazebos may
be enclosed with solid wood walls, or vinyl siding, and a sealed
wooden floor, and turned into a cottage, summerhouse, guesthouse,
entertainment pavilion, pool house, cabana, or anything else you
wish to make it. You can even give it a deck all its own.
Today, gazebos are all around in homes and gardens all
across the country. Unique to the designer¡¯s wisdom, they can be
round, square, octagonal, or rectangular, small or large, ornate or
plain, elegant or rustic, and anything else that one can dream of.
It can come in stone, wood, wrought iron, vinyl and bamboos. It can
be single or double decks.
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