Summer Garden Saint Petersburg

The National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) is working on several mutual cultural heritage projects in Russia. One of these projects concerns the restoration of the famous Summer Garden (Letni Sad) in St. Petersburg.

The park was personally designed by Czar Peter in 1704, supposedly, with the assistance of the Dutch gardener and physician Nicolaas Bidloo. Starting from 1712, the planting of the Summer Garden was further elaborated by the Dutch gardener Jan Roosen, who was the chief gardener of the park till 1726. The well-known French architect Jean-Baptiste Le Blond, who worked in St. Petersburg in 1716-1719, added to the park the flavour of a Garden à la française.

The plan of the garden is simple: there are three parallel alleys leading from the Neva river deep into the garden’s territory, crossed by several perpendicular paths. To the north and the east, the Summer Garden is naturally bordered by Neva and Fontanka rivers. On the south and west, the garden is bordered by artificial canals - the Swan Canal and the canal connecting Fontanka to the Moika river. The northern part of the garden, which adjoins the Summer Palace and is decorated more richly, was called the First Summer Garden. The southern part, which not only holds garden amusement facilities, but also administrative buildings and a fruit orchard, was known as the Second Summer Garden.

At the times of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the garden was flourishing. At that moment, major construction work took place at the opposite bank of the Moika River, on the territory of the Third Summer Garden (the present Mikhailovsky Gardens and the garden around St Michael’s Castle). F.-B. Rastrelli built the new Summer Palace for Elizabeth in the 1740s. The Summer Garden suffered the flood of 1777, which caused serious damage to plants, statues, and fountains. By the early 19th century, the Garden had lost many of its sculptures and all its old amusement facilities. The Summer Palace of Peter the Great and the semi-ruined Grotto pavilion were the only buildings that survived. At the same time, the era of Catherine II created a new decoration for the Garden - the wonderful railing placed along the Neva embankment (1770-1784, architect Y. Felten).

In the 19th century, the Garden became a favourite place for walking. It continued to develop, but now as a public city park "for decently dressed public". By order of Emperor Nicolas I, impressive changes were introduced. In 1826, Carlo Rossi transformed the remains of the Grotto into the Coffee House. In 1827, the Tea House was built not far away from it (architect L. Charlemagne). A cast iron railing was mounted along the Moika embankment (architects P. Bazaine, L. Charlemagne, 1826). In 1839, a porphyry vase was placed at the south entrance. This was a present from the Swedish King Carl Johann XIV to Nicolas I. In 1855, one of the Garden grounds was decorated with a monument to I.A. Krylov, created by the sculptor P. Klodt.

The original Dutch layout changed over the centuries, undergoing French and Italian influences. A full-scale, historically researched reconstruction, aimed at bringing back the features of the regular garden of the 18th century and maintaining its ecosystem, has just been completed. The process has been the subject of co-operation between the State Russian Museum and Dutch experts from the National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), the Head Gardener of the Royal Palace 'Het Loo', the Consulate-General in St. Petersburg and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow. The Dutch partners have helped to ensure a restoration-reconstruction process being in line with international norms with maximum retention of authenticity. The Summer Garden was re-opened on May 27, 2012.

OBJECTIVES
Consultations by Dutch experts on certain aspects of restoration, maintenance and use of the Summer Garden; seminar/workshop in St. Petersburg in 2013.

RESULTS
Advice by Dutch experts on the restoration approach, tree care and public facilities in the Summer Garden; knowledge transfer during a study visit of experts from St. Petersburg to the Netherlands.