On October 12, our school took part in the international action “All-Russian oak grove of Emperor Peter the Great”. As part of the action, a hereditary oak tree was planted, grown from an oak acorn planted by Emperor Peter I in the Summer Garden.

In 1708, an oak grove began to be planted in the Summer Garden. From the vicinity of under construction
Petersburg, 60 adult oak trees are brought. The diameter of their trunk was from 16 to 20 cm, the height was up to 6 meters. The trees are brought along with their native land. Peter I himself takes part in the planting of oaks. Among the trees planted then there was an oak growing in the Summer Garden at the present time. This very oak-patriarch of the Summer Garden suffered all the natural and social catastrophes that befell the city for more than three centuries of existence.

In the spring of 2014, the certification commission of the All-Russian program “Trees are monuments of wildlife”, created in 2010 by the Council for the Conservation of the Natural Heritage of the Nation in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on the initiative of the NPSA “Healthy Forest” and Moscow State University. Forests, with the support of the Federal Forestry Agency, decided to assign Peter’s oak (over 360 years old) in the Summer Garden title: TREE – A MONUMENT OF LIVING NATURE.

On June 12, 2019, the director of the Russian Museum, Vladimir Gusev, solemnly announced the start of the All-Russian Dubrava of Emperor Peter the Great program. The program is a symbol of the connection between times and all Peter’s iconic places. Planting and preserving saplings from the oak of Peter the Great’s time is both an invaluable contribution to the history of preserving the memory of the planting of oaks by Peter the Great, and the preservation of a valuable historical natural gene pool.

It was then that a new tradition of collecting acorns from the oak of Peter the Great’s time and their germination on the territory of the Summer Garden appeared. Oaks at the age of 3 years and more began to present to the winners of creative competitions, museums, reserves, representatives of the administration of different cities, educational institutions, as well as participants in festivals and competitions.