Bergius Botanical Garden
Photo: Mikael Högfors / CC BY-SA 3.0, modified.
Overview
The Japanese Pond at Bergius Botanic Garden is a Japanese-inspired garden area in Stockholm’s Bergianska trädgården. The official Bergius Botanic Garden page states that the pond garden was laid out for the bicentennial of the Bergius Foundation and inaugurated in 1991. It is described as a year-round favourite, valued for its carefully shaped plants and placed stones.
History
Bergianska trädgården originates from the Bergius brothers’ foundation of 1791 and moved to its present Frescati location in the late nineteenth century. The Japanese Pond belongs to a much later phase of thematic garden-making within the botanical garden. A pond already existed on this site when Bergianska trädgården was laid out in the late nineteenth century; in the late 1980s, the pond area was redesigned into a garden inspired by Japanese garden art. The Japanese Pond was inaugurated in 1991, in connection with the 200th anniversary of the Bergius Foundation.
A Swedish academic study on Japanese gardens in Sweden identifies the garden as designed by landscape architect Ingalill Nahringbauer, with support from Japanese architect Yoji Kasajima. Since the official Bergius pages confirm the date and character but do not name the designer in the retrieved text, this designer attribution should be treated as a strong secondary-source attribution rather than as an official garden-page credit.
Design features
The garden is centred on a pond redesigned as a small Japanese-inspired landscape. The Swedish official description presents it as a self-contained “garden within the garden,” intended for contemplation and calm. Its design uses water, carefully styled plants, placed stones and seasonal effects, especially the winter contrast of trees, boulders and snow.
Garden elements
Bridges
Waters and islands
Stones
Other elements
Current status
Extant Japanese-inspired pond garden within Bergianska trädgården. It remains one of the botanical garden’s named outdoor areas and is freely accessible within the garden grounds.