Today we celebrate the founding of the Summer Garden. It is on April 5 (March 25 according to the old style) in 1704 that the first mention is dated, which indicates the beginning of the creation of the royal summer residence – the Summer Garden.
“As soon as you receive my letter, if you please, without wasting time, all sorts of flowers from Izmailovo, little by little, and more of those that smell, send with a gardener to Petersburg.” Such an order was received by the head of the Discharge Order Tikhon Streshnev from Peter I in the spring of 1704. At the beginning of June of the same year, carts with plants for planting in the royal garden had already arrived in St. Petersburg.
Peter chooses a plot for a garden and a palace in St. Petersburg under construction back in May 1703. The place, from the point of view of Peter I, is very suitable. It is surrounded by water on three sides: from the north by the Neva River, from the south by the Mya River (Moika), and from the east by a channel – Bezymyanny Erik (Fontanka). The territory has already been developed: there is a house with outbuildings and a small garden in the Dutch style. So, on the site of the former estate of the Swedish officer Konau, the future Summer Garden is being laid.
Through the efforts of Russian and foreign garden masters, gardeners and gardeners, as well as the inexhaustible energy of Peter I, by 1715 the Summer Garden occupies the entire modern territory. According to the descriptions of contemporaries, the Summer Garden at that time was well arranged, decorated with fountains and sculptures, and made a favorable impression on visitors.
In the future, we will definitely tell many stories from the long life of the garden. And now HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUMMER GARDEN!
