It’s no secret that almost 10 years have passed since the restoration of the Summer Garden and how many secrets were kept underground until the moment when archaeologists began excavations.

One of the most interesting discoveries was made during the supervision of earthworks during the laying of high-voltage cables along the Economic Alley route. In this place, archaeologists found a previously unknown structure, which is a wooden two-tier structure oriented along the axis of the Economic Alley. The structure was traced for 300 m. The revealed structure can be interpreted as an aqueduct, that is, as a structure intended for the main supply of water to the fountains of the Summer Garden.

The construction of the aqueduct took place during the backfilling of part of the floodplain of the Fontanka. On the transverse beams forming the upper and lower tiers of the structure, cast-iron pipes were laid, located at two levels. After the installation of the pipes, this structure was covered with layers of filling of the Fontanka floodplain with a thickness of about 1.5 m. But at the end of the 18th century, the cast-iron pipes of the structure, or aqueduct, were dismantled.

Archaeological studies have shown that for this purpose a trench was dug along the route of the aqueduct, and some of the beams of the upper tier in the central parts were sawn.