The Yalta Memorial Garden (or the Cromwell Gardens Triangle or Thurloe Place Gardens) is a small triangular garden in South Kensington, west London, SW7. It is in size. The garden contains '' Twelve Responses to Tragedy'' (or the ''Yalta Memorial''), a memorial located that commemorates people displaced as a result of the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

at the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The memorial was dedicated in 1986 to replace a previous memorial dedicated in 1982 that had been repeatedly damaged by vandalism. The land on which the garden is situated was first described in 1928 when it was part of the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

by the ''Report of the Royal Commission on London Squares'' as a 'grass plot with a few trees'. The garden is located at the junction of Cromwell Gardens, Thurloe Place and is adjacent to the private

Thurloe Square Thurloe Square is a traditional garden square in South Kensington, London, England. There are private communal gardens in the centre of the square for use by the local residents. The Victoria and Albert Museum is close by to the north acros ...

. The

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

is immediately north of the garden, on the opposite side of

Cromwell Gardens Cromwell Gardens is a short but major road in South Kensington, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It joins the Cromwell Road at the junction with Exhibition Road to the west with the Brompton Road to the east ...

. The museum maintains the garden. The garden and memorial are publicly accessible at all times.

Design

The plot of the garden is triangular, a central paved path leads to the apex of the triangle, the path is lined by ornamental trees, and a

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...

forms a border around the garden. The far west of the garden contains a flower bed.

References

{{Reflist 1986 in London 1986 establishments in England Gardens in London Parks and open spaces in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea South Kensington