One of the most favorite addresses of St. Petersburg is the Summer Garden. Both the residents of the northern capital and its guests. The long history and unique sculptural and architectural decoration make it one of the most interesting historical and cultural monuments of the city.
Place of the Summer Garden in urban space
The address of the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg belongs to the historical part of the city. It is located on one of the central embankments of St. Petersburg between the Swan groove on the right, if you face the famous fence, and the Fontanka on the left. Through the Swan groove one more famous St. Petersburg ensemble is visible - the Field of Mars or, as it was called earlier, Tsaritsyn meadow. To the left of the Fontanka is the territory of the former Civil or Particular shipyard. The domes of the Panteleimon Church - the parish church of the sailors still rise above the roofs of buildings.
In St. Petersburg, the address of the Summer Garden is usually defined as Kutuzov Embankment, 2.
A look into the past
The history of the Summer Garden began back in the reign of Peter I, when the city only began to be built up. There was then no Swan groove, nor even the Fontanka River. Instead of the latter, Nameless Eric flowed through this land. It was on the shores of this same Eric that Peter I planned to set up the first garden for public entertainments - for assemblies. Here he ordered Domenico Trezzini and Andreas Schluter to build a Summer Palace.
At that time, the territory of the garden was much larger: it captured the lands on which the Mikhailovsky Castle is now located, and the lands opposite the castle, which now belong to the Mikhailovsky Garden. There were four parts in the Summer Garden at that time: one - the front door and three - household. It would be difficult to determine the address of the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg during the Petrine era. Then, after all, there were no addresses yet.
Soon, fountains began to be erected in the garden, according to the idea of Peter I. And in order to supply them with water, Nameless Eric was connected to the Neva and dug a canal into which swans were allowed to swim. Therefore, he began to be called the Swan groove. True, the fountains did not last long - they were destroyed by floods and have not been restored to our time.
The wonders of the Summer Garden
In Peter's times, amazing objects were collected in the Summer Garden. Getting acquainted with them, any visitor learned a lot of new and interesting things. Here, for example, Aesopian labyrinth. Here one could look not only at the sculptural images of the heroes of Aesop’s fables, but also learn from the information plates attached to them the contents of these fables.
On one of the grounds of the garden, men could play intellectual games, for example, chess, and also discuss political issues.
Here one could look at exotic plants, from which the garden world was collected: trees, shrubs, flowers (even the Dutch tulips specially written by Peter I), as well as amazing animals - porcupine, black-brown fox, ostrich, pelicans, black swans. Why don’t you have a biology lesson!
Along the straight lines like arrows, there were marble statues, studying which, they recognized the content of ancient myths and ancient Roman history.
And the sculptural composition "Nishtadt World" plunged contemplating Russian history, days just past, connected with the Northern War, the victory over Sweden and the signing of a peace treaty with it. Why don’t you have a museum? And now, any of us can go to a familiar address in St. Petersburg in the Summer Garden and plunge into history.
Famous fence
The unique ceremonial fence of the Summer Garden from the Neva is considered to be one of the Petersburg pearls. It was built in 1784 by architects Yuri Matveyevich Felten and Peter Egorovich Egorov. Amazing interweaving of stems, blossoming rosebuds in front of our eyes ... Floridness and gilding, sophisticated patterning and luxury ... All this has repeatedly awakened the imagination of artists and poets from different eras.
The fence delimits the carriageway of the embankment and the parkland, fencing the garden from the gray ribbon of the Neva, but the water is still clearly visible from the grate. Against the background of its gray water, golden flowers stand out especially brightly.
To see this wonder, you need to go to the famous Summer Garden address in St. Petersburg from the Gostiny Dvor metro on Sadovaya Street. Go to the Neva along the Swan groove and turn right. The working hours of the Summer Garden are all days except Tuesday, but in April it will be closed for drying. So it will be possible to look at the Summer Palace and other amazing monuments only through the bars.