Summer Garden

Laid out for Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century, this is the oldest formal park in Saint Petersburg, arranged with straight alleys, clipped hedges and rows of marble statues imported from Italy. A modest palace where the tsar once stayed survives at one corner, and the garden is enclosed on the Neva side by a celebrated wrought-iron fence admired as a masterwork of decorative metalwork. Fountains restored in recent years recall its original Baroque design. Shaded and elegant, it remains a beloved retreat in the heart of the city.