A £4.6m project to restore Kew Gardens' iconic Great Pagoda will see decorative dragons adorn the structure for the first time in 200 years.

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) announced the collaborative conservation project with the Royal Botanic Gardens this week, with the eye-catching building set to be returned to its 18th century glory.

As part of the project, 80 dragons will be restored to replicate the original pagoda which was built in 1762, but the mythical creatures are believed to have disappeared in the 1780s.

Craig Hatto, project leader at HRP, said while there had been talk about the 80 elusive dragons there was never any solid evidence they existed. But last year, a team carried out an extensive investigation to find the fixings the dragons would have been attached to in order to prove they were there.

After their success at finding the fixings on levels three and four of the pagoda, the team decided the restoration project would revert the landmark to the 1762 design, complete with dragons.

Mr Hatto said: "The reason why they disappeared is because of the material they were made of.

"What would have happened is they wouldn’t have been able to keep preserving them like we could today, so would have been taken down.

"They disappeared and there has been a lot of conjecture on whether the prince [Prince Regent] has lost them in a bet because they were rumoured to be solid gold."

The new dragons will be created in a poised position ready to fight, after the team pieced together what the original fixtures looked like.

As part of the project, the pagoda will also be restored to replicate the original creation from the 1700s and painted in white and green.

Mr Hatto said: "I have been involved in quite a few restoration projects but for me, this is iconic.

"It is one of those buildings you don’t come across often and it really is something that should be preserved and really starts to unlock a unique story at Kew."

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There be dragons: The pagoda at Kew Gardens

The restoration is the first large-scale restoration project to be commissioned after Kew Gardens faced a £5m financial black hole after a reduction in government funding.

Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and north Kingston, said: "It’s a great initiative and I have no doubt visitors will enjoy and appreciate the return of the dragons.

"There are still concerns about long term funding for Kew, and for my part I am in discussions with the Department for International Development, and hope it will be able to take up some of the slack."

The pagoda is expected to re-open to the public permanently in 2017 and HRP will continue with a 10-year conservation programme to maintain the upkeep of the restored pagoda and dragons.

Historians and researchers at Kew Gardens and the Historic Royal Palaces are yet to locate any of the original dragons from the pagoda and invite people to contact them if they believe they have one in their possession to help with the project.

It is the biggest architectural/restoration project to be announced at Kew, which also has the Temperate House restoration on-going and due to be complete in 2018.  

Another major project started in January is the Broadwalk Borders project, which is creating the largest herbaceous border of colour in Europe.