Parterre is an open part of the garden, decorated with lawns, flower beds, fountains, statues. In the 18th century, it was an indispensable element for decorating a regular garden.

During the restoration of the Summer Garden 2009-2012. The front parterre was recreated in its historical place according to plans and drawings of the 18th century.

Initially, the flower gardens along the Swan Canal were planned back in 1716 by Peter I. When Jean Leblond proposed his plan for transforming the imperial gardens, he planned a huge parterre with a complex pattern. In nature, the parterre was created in 1725 in front of the windows of the Second Summer Palace, built along the Neva and the Lebyazhya Canal. The size of the parterre was reduced, and its drawing was made simpler. After the construction of Anna Ioannovna’s Summer Palace, a new one was created on the site of the existing parterre according to the project of the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The parterre was increased in size and its drawing was made more complex. The parterre became a ceremonial one, because in those days the central entrance to the Summer Garden was from the side of the Big Meadow (Field of Mars).
The center of the Parade Parterre and its dominant feature is a round area decorated with sculptures and the Crown Fountain.

The crown fountain was designed by the architect Mikhail Zemtsov in 1724 by order of Peter. The fountain was built in 1725. In the center of a circular pool with four cascades, there is a two-tiered pedestal, lined with tuff and decorated with mascarons, on which the pipes are located. Water jets erupting from the tubes create a pattern that resembles a crown. That is why the fountain is called Crown. At the end of the 18th century, the fountain was filled up, like the rest of the Summer Garden fountains.

In 2010-2011, the fountain was recreated on the basis of iconographic materials and archaeological research. The fountain is decorated with gilded mascarons (a type of sculptural decoration in the form of a human or animal head in full face). The mascaron is based on a sample found on the territory of the Summer Garden in the 1960s and deposited in the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve.

Enjoy your walks through the gardens of the Russian Museum with a baggage of new knowledge.