Admiralty Garden is a landmark of St. Petersburg, which instills a lot of confusion in the tourist plans of visitors. To begin with, it’s not on the latest maps of the city. Now the garden is called Alexandrovsky, and in addition to it, in St. Petersburg there is another park with the same exact name. So how do you clarify?
Alexander Park is located on the Petrograd side. And our garden is located in the city center and overlooks the Senate and Palace Squares. What else do we need to know about this attraction? It is no exaggeration to say that the Alexander Garden (formerly Admiralteysky) is the hallmark of St. Petersburg. Or his handsome and well-groomed face.
History of the Admiralty
Before taking on a modern look, the garden (or rather, the place where it was laid out) performed various useful functions. Who would have thought that these centuries-old trees grow on military ditches and trenches! The name for the future garden was given by the Main Admiralty in St. Petersburg. The first stone in this fortress-shipyard was laid in 1704. As expected of the fortification, it was surrounded by moats and ramparts. And the vast space in front of the Admiralty was cleared for artillery in case of an enemy attack from land. This site was called in military language "glacis".
Soon, the Admiralty lost its defense significance. Therefore, the need for glacis disappeared. For a long time it was used as a platform for storing bulky goods - masts, anchors, etc. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, glacis was used for the needs of the Marine Market.
Admiralty meadow
But gradually the glacis became increasingly neglected. It was overgrown with grass and was popularly called the Admiralty Meadow. But the building of the fortress played too big a role in the layout of the city. As early as one thousand seven hundred and twenty-first years, Peter the Great laid down the basic planning scheme of St. Petersburg.
According to the tsar’s plan, three avenues were to go through the city, diverging rays from the Admiralty: Voznesensky, Nevsky and Gorokhovaya Street. Therefore, the former glacis had to be somehow ennobled. The Admiralty Garden in St. Petersburg was laid by captive Swedes. It was they who planted the first birch trees, paving a beautiful alley to Nevsky Prospekt. During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the Admiralty meadow was used for public festivities, which were held at public expense, for the drill of the guards, for grazing cattle from the court crib. But already in the middle of the eighteenth century, the meadow gradually began to turn into a park. Trellis fences, palisades, alleys, benches appeared. In the last decade of the century, a huge area of the former glacis began to be paved until it turned into a complex of squares - Admiralteyskaya, Petrovskaya and Isaakievskaya.
Alexander Garden (St. Petersburg)
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the arrangement of the meadow continued. It is noteworthy that this territory was open to the general public. But along the perimeter the meadow was fenced, and guardsmen stood at the entrance near the turnstiles. In the garden, French tenants Marcel and Francois Villot opened tea and coffee houses. The meadow was gradually planted with trees, bushes of lilacs. From Tsarskoye Selo flowers were brought and planted on the flower beds.
Since the thirties, two marble sculptures were moved from the Tauride Palace to the future Admiralty Garden. But all these works did not have a single plan. Finally, in 1872, on the bicentenary of Peter the Great, the city council decided to take up the matter professionally. To break down the garden, the botanist and master of park art E. Regel was invited. A year later, on July 8, Alexander II arrived at the scene and planted an oak tree with his own hands. Then it was decided to call the new garden an imperial name.
Description of the park
This place has a huge area - nine hectares. It is nice to stroll under the canopy of centuries-old trees. The sights of St. Petersburg are perfectly visible from the garden - St. Isaac's Cathedral, a monument to Peter the Great, the Admiralty building. Even before the revolution, a fountain was broken here. The Admiralty Garden was decorated with numerous sculptures - busts of famous Russian figures. A metal grille surrounded the park along the perimeter, along which a granite parapet was laid. There was no shortage of garden and beautiful pavilions with verandas. In the summer, a brass band pleased the rumors of those walking. In Soviet times, the park was called the Garden of Workers named after M. Gorky. It created glades for the passage of demonstrators and equipment for the parade.
Modernity
In the eighty-ninth year of the last century, the park was again renamed the Admiralty Garden. And in 1997, it was decided to perpetuate the memory of the emperor. Therefore, the sights were returned to their former name. Among the people, it bears the playful name "Sashkin Garden." According to St. Petersburg, this is a great place to relax. Here you don’t feel that you are in the very center of the metropolis. It is green, quiet, and offers wonderful views. Recently, seasonal flower festivals have been held in the garden. And in winter, an ice slide is set up.