As you may know, parks and gardens were and might still be quite valuable in Russia. Most of the imperial estates and palaces had one or more gardens surrounding them. That’s why you should be ready to witness some amazing landscapes on your travel to Russia. St. Petersburg, as one of the main cities in Russia tour, has even more gardens and parks compare to Moscow because it’s much younger than the capital city. St. Petersburg had only founded in 1703 when Peter I decided to move the capital to a new place in the northwest of the country. The city that we know as St. Petersburg today was under the control of the Swedish Empire back in the day. Since Peter I was fascinated by western culture and most of the cities in major countries in Europe had several beautiful gardens, Peter the Great ordered architects and landscapers to lay out several gardens and parks all around the city and its suburban area just like the cities in Europe.
On your trip to St. Petersburg, you will find most of the major attractions of Russia in the city with at least one garden around them, such as Peterhof, which is famous for it lower garden or as we know it in St. Petersburg our Nizhny Park; Pushkin, another major St. Petersburg attractive places has two beautiful parks, the Catherine Garden and the Alexander Garden; The Summer Palace of Peter as most of St. Petersburg locals and tour to Russia agencies believe is the most beautiful and romantic place in St. Petersburg; Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Lomonosov, and Yelagin Island are other beautiful places in St. Petersburg that you can visit if you want to have a fresh air or just enjoying marvelous sceneries on your trip to Russia.
However, with the number of Russia attractive places on the tour to St. Petersburg, you may not have enough time to visit all of them, so you need to choose which ones are easier to reach or essential to see on your tour to Russia. Most of the Russia tour agencies offer a visit to the historical center of St, Petersburg, which has loads of attractions inside it, and if you end up in a tour to the historical center of St. Petersburg, you can visit three of the most beautiful gardens in the city; The Summer Garden of Peter the Great, St. Michael Castle, and Mikhailovsky Garden, which together formed a giant park right at the center of the city.
The Mikhailovsky Garden locates on the north of Mikhailovsky Palace, which is the main building of the State Russian Museum, between the Sadovaya Street and Griboyedov Canal, and ends at the bank of Moika River at the north, which separates the garden from the Field of Mars. Before the trees block the view, you could see the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and the Field of Mars from almost anywhere in the garden. The Mikhailovsky Garden had a fascinating history as well as a gorgeous appearance, and it dates back to even before Peter I's era.
Before Peter I captured the lands from the Swedish Empire, the place where the Mikhailovsky Garden lies now was part of captain Konow’s estate, where he and other Swedish nobles used it as a hunting ground. Peter I gifted the lands where Summer garden and Mikhailovsky garden have currently occupied to his wife Catherine I; he also ordered Jean-Baptist Leblond to set three gardens in the area. These gardens were also expected to supply the palaces with fruits, vegetables, fishes from five ponds inside the garden, and other goods.
Empress Anna Ioannovna had relocated the vegetable garden and orchards to another location and turned the area into hunting ground in which deer and rabbits kept in a protected fenced area; she had also ordered her architect to build the Golden Palace for her inside the garden. Empress Elizabeth later commissioned Francesco Rastrelli to build the Summer Palace for her; he also added several flower beds, sculptures, ponds, and pavilions, including a bathhouse near the Moika River, and several entertainment objects to the garden. Sadly, you can not visit the Golden Palace on your trip to Russia because it got destroyed by the orders of Empress Catherine II. The Summer Palace of Elizabeth was also demolished by the command of Emperor Paul I, and replaced by the St. Michael Castle. The water became quite significant in the design of the new castle since it supposed to be surrounded by water and could only be accessed by drawbridges. After the assassination of Paul I in 1801, his family abandoned the castle and had left it and its garden to decay.
The present Mikhailovsky Palace and Garden was built in 1817 by the orders of Alexander I. The emperor wanted to construct a palace for his younger brother Mikhail Pavlovich, hired Carlo Rossi to build the palace and set a garden around it. The Garden layout was the design of Rossi and Adam Menelaws, which approved by the emperor. Rossi followed the English Landscape Gardens, which was popular in the 18th century. He also kept most of the ponds and linked them to the Moika River via underground tunnels; several flower beds, trees, sculptures, and pavilions, including a pavilion with pier at the place of former Golden Palace, which was a spot for romantic meetings; iron cast bridges were installed on the ponds; a fancy iron fence was also set around the garden. When Mikhail Pavlovich deceased, his widow, Elena Pavlovna inherited the palace and garden; she held multiple balls and festivals inside the Mikhailovsky Garden and turned each one of them into the exhibition of gardening in St. Petersburg by bringing every kind of flowers that existed in the garden into the balls.
During the Soviet Union, all the imperial symbols had removed, and several new pavilions had erected in the garden for exhibitions. The garden and the palace heavily damaged during the flooding of 1924, but both restored in 1934. After the restoration, a children's playground was added to the garden alongside public toilets. During the second world war, all the statues and sculptures were buried underground to keep safe from bombing raids of Nazi troops. Though the garden severely damaged during the war and the siege of Leningrad, the restoration work had started shortly after the war.
After the Soviet Union had fallen, the Mikhailovsky Palace and Mikhailovsky transferred to the State Russian Museum. Shortly after the State Russian Museum took the garden, a report showed that the Mikhailovsky Garden is in serious condition and needed renovation. The restoration work had started in 2002 and finished in 2004. One of the fascinating facts about this garden is that the restoration work preserved the English Landscape Garden in the middle and French Formal Garden on the edge of the Mikhailovsky Garden.
Since 2008, the Mikhailovsky Garden is the host of International "Imperial Gardens of Russia" Festival, which happens annually in late May and early June. If you like to attend this festival, make sure to visit the State Russian Museum or inform the administrators of your Russia tour about your request.
We at the Star Travel Group suggest all the tourists who have decided to travel to Russia visit our weblog to learn more about other Russia attractions and our tips about how to visit Russia.
