Alexander Garden

Alexander Garden stretches along the southern and western façades of the Admiralty in the very center of St. Petersburg, between Palace Square and Senate Square. Covering about nine hectares, the garden opened in 1874 and was named after the reigning Alexander II; nearby stand the Winter Palace, Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the Bronze Horseman, and the buildings of the Senate and Synod, and the territory itself is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site comprising the city's historic center.

The history of the site began long before the garden appeared: after the Admiralty fortress-shipyard was founded in 1704, an open glacis was left in front of it for cannon fire, which over time became overgrown and turned into the Admiralty Meadow. In 1721 three main axes of the city's layout were traced from here — today's Nevsky Prospect, Voznesensky Prospect, and Gorokhovaya Street — and captured Swedes planted a birch-lined avenue here. The meadow served as a place for public strolls and fireworks, an auxiliary site during rebuildings of the Winter Palace, and pasture for the court's livestock. Under Catherine II, Saint Isaac's Cathedral and Falconet's monument to Peter I rose nearby, and by 1806 the architect Ruska had laid out a boulevard with benches and oil lamps along the Admiralty's façade.

For the bicentenary of Peter the Great's birth the City Duma decided to create a proper public garden on this spot; the work was directed by the botanist Eduard Regel. In the summer of 1872 more than five thousand trees and over twelve thousand shrubs of some fifty species were planted, and the grounds were enclosed with railings designed by the engineer Zhoffrio. The ceremonial opening took place on 8 July 1874: Alexander II, who attended in person, planted a small oak himself and gave his consent for the garden to bear his name. In 1879 the city's largest fountain of its time began operating here, and a year later busts of cultural figures began to be installed — Zhukovsky, Przhevalsky, Gogol, Lermontov, and Glinka.

In the winter of 1905 the culminating scene of the tragedy of Bloody Sunday, which became the prologue to Russia's first revolution, unfolded right here; from this same spot in 1907 the city's first tram and first public bus set out on their maiden runs. After the revolution the garden was renamed several times — first the Garden of the Working People, then in honor of Maxim Gorky — and during the Siege anti-aircraft batteries stood among its trees: despite numerous hits, Leningraders did not cut down a single tree here for firewood.

The garden's historic name was restored in 1997, and a year later a bust of the diplomat Alexander Gorchakov appeared by the fountain. A large-scale reconstruction in 2001–2002 recreated the historic railings along the Admiralty Proyezd and renewed the lawns and pathways. In 2007 vandals damaged the garden's sculptures during a rock concert on the neighboring Palace Square, requiring urgent restoration, and since the winter of 2009 an ice slide modeled on 18th-century engravings has been built in front of the Admiralty every year.

Having traveled the path from a military glacis to an imperial garden and a park heritage of the Soviet era, Alexander Garden remains one of the most visited green spaces in the city center — a place where three centuries of urban history are interwoven.