Original Summer Garden was found almost as soon as the city itself. In 1704 Emperor Peter I reserved an area of the city for French type of garden coped after garden of Versailles. Famous founder of Saint Petersburg participated in the design of Summer Garden layout as part of greater city architectural design. Summer Garden served subsequently served as a personal summer residence of the emperor. Unfortunately the flood of 1777 destroyed much of the original layout. Catherine the Great re- constructed Summer Garden in her own English style. Her workers dug two trenches on two sides thus turning Summer Garden into an island with other two sides surrounded by rivers.
The Summer Garden was originally created as a summer royal residence, and part of Usaditsa Island was allocated for its arrangement: Peter I chose a habitable and advantageously located manor in the place where the estate of the Swedish major Erich Berndt von Konou (Konau) was located - a small house with a utility yard and garden. At that time, this part of the island served as a transport function (it was lost with the construction of the Great Perspective Road).
In the history of the formation and development of the Summer Garden,
researchers distinguish 7 stages:
Stage I (1704-1710)
Construction began in 1704, the first builder of the garden was Ivan
Matveyevich Ugryumov (Ivan Matveev). Under the leadership of Peter I, he
carried out the initial work:
Definition and designation of the
boundaries of the garden.
Initial layout.
Drying out the area.
Creation of solid ground. For this, an reclamation canal was dug, which
became one of the main elements of the garden.
Tree planting.
Construction of the first fountains.
Preparation of places for the
first state buildings.
Creation and maintenance of Havanese.
The
first oak galleries in the Corinthian order were erected at the request
of Peter the Great by the architect F. Vasiliev.
For the
convenience of overland communication between the Novgorod road and the
Admiralty, the tsar ordered "to kill that river." The dam across the
Fontanka was built in 1705 by master Ivan Matveyevich Ugryumov.
Ameliorative works were of great importance - the chosen territory was
not suitable even for planting trees, it was necessary to create a solid
surface. For this, the following actions were taken:
Reservoirs were
arranged - canals and ponds.
Work was carried out to strengthen the
soil - trees were planted in the garden all year round.
Active
backfilling of the territory was carried out - for several years, huge
quantities of land were imported from different places.
In 1707,
Ivan Matveyevich Ugryumov (Ivan Matveev) died in Shlisselburg, and A.V.
Kikin was entrusted with the supervision of construction in the absence
of Peter I. Active construction in the garden began in 1709. A wooden
Summer Palace was built. The first fountains are built, trees and
flowers are planted. At this time, the garden has a regular layout, with
trimmed trees. The garden became the venue for assemblies, balls and
fireworks. It was closed to the public, it was possible to get there
only at the invitation of Peter.
II stage (1710-1716)
The
Lebyazhy and Transverse canals were dug. The territory is divided into
the First and Second Summer Gardens. A stone Summer Palace with a Havana
and People's Chambers is being erected (architect D. Trezzini, 1712),
the Grotto Pavilion (architect A. Schluter, 1713-1725), the Big
Orangery, Green Cabinets, Lusthaus, Ogibnye Alleys, three galleries on
the banks of the Neva. To decorate the garden, marble sculptures are
ordered, mainly in Venice. In the Second Summer Garden there is a
Karpiev Pond and two “etoiles”. Behind the Big Orangery, near the
Fontanka in the Red Garden, there are vegetable gardens and greenhouses.
Since 1712, the work has been carried out by the gardener Jan Roosen,
who worked in the Summer Garden for more than 13 years (1712-1726). The
composition of the garden is made in the tradition of Dutch regular
gardens.
Stage III (1716-1725)
In 1716, the French architect
Jean-Baptiste Leblon, a student of A. Le Nôtre, came to St. Petersburg,
who was well known in Europe for his writings about the regular gardens
and labyrinths of Versailles. In 1715, Peter was brought one of his
books - "Mr. Leblon's practice of vegetable gardens." Jean-Baptiste
Leblond builds the composition of the Summer Garden based on the
representative principles of regular French gardens, where one of the
characteristic techniques is the depth of the landscape and the richness
of garden structures. The interior space of the four central bosquets on
the main alley is being solved in a new way. Inside them, Leblon
proposed to arrange a variety of "garden ideas", and along the Swan
Canal, built in 1716, to arrange a huge flower parterre with a fountain
in the middle.
The work was carried out by the architect M.
Zemtsov. The main idea of J.-B. Leblon - presentability, enlargement of
the key elements of the composition, their saturation with content and
greater decorative effect - was implemented. In particular, four
bosquets on the central alley are solved in a slightly refined form.
Behind the Transverse Canal, a garden labyrinth is arranged, decorated
with fountains based on the plots of Aesop's fables - a large-scale
composition that took the main place in the layout of the second Summer
Garden. Here were the fountains-crackers.
Initially, the
water-lifting mechanism that supplied the fountains was horse-drawn. In
1718, it was replaced by Russia's first steam "water-cocking machine"
designed by the French engineer T. Desaguliers (Desaguliers, Theophile,
1683-1743). The water for this machine was taken from the Nameless Erik,
which since then has been called the Fontanka.
By 1719, the main
work was completed. In the same years, the Transverse Canal was dug.
Flowing from Lebyazhye, it went to the Fontanka, but did not reach the
river and divided the garden into two almost equal parts. At the same
time, the Moika and Fontanka rivers were connected, and the main part of
the garden turned out to be located on the island. Ponds and canals were
built to drain the territory of the garden, but at the same time they
were also its decorative design. The exception was Gavanets, which was
built near the cape formed by the Neva and Fontanka, and served as an
approach to the Summer Palace on small ships.
In 1718-1725. The
Ligovsky Canal was dug from the Liga River, which flowed from the
Dudergof Lakes. The water flowed through the canal to special pools
located on Basseynaya Street (now Nekrasov Street). From there, it was
fed through pipes to the water towers, which provided the fountains of
the Summer Garden with water.
They were allowed into the garden
only on Sundays, and even then not everyone. Berchholtz, who visited the
garden in 1721, was impressed by “a large poultry house, where many
birds partly walk freely, partly are locked in small cages placed around
it. Some four-legged animals are also kept here, such as, for example, a
very large hedgehog, which has many black and white needles up to 11
inches long. I kept one of them for myself. There are many beautiful and
rare pigeons in a tall house on the east side.
Stage IV
(1725-1750)
Associated with the works of the famous architect F. B.
Rastrelli. He builds a wooden palace (1732) for Anna Ioannovna on the
Neva embankment. Developing the ideas of Leblon, F. B. Rastrelli created
an unusually elegant and solemn parterre composition, completing it with
a unique structure - the majestic cascade "Amphitheatre" (1734-1738),
decorated with fountains, sculpture and carvings. In the center of the
parterre was arranged one of the most elegant fountains of the Summer
Garden - "Crown".
Stage V (1750-1787)
Empress Elizaveta
Petrovna allowed the public to enter the Summer Garden "in the
nonexistence of the empress" in St. Petersburg. Any neatly dressed
person had the right to walk along the alleys. From May 25, 1752, the
garden was open to the public on Sundays and public holidays. On May 10,
1755, Elizabeth made the decision to let the public in on Thursdays.
From June 16, the garden resumed work on Sundays, and from May 24, 1756,
the public with a rank below the 2nd class was again allowed in only in
the absence of the Empress in St. Petersburg.
Until the 1760s,
the Neva came close to the garden (as depicted in the engraving by
Alexei Zubov), but for the development of the city it was necessary to
provide a through passage. With the help of robes in the bed of the
Neva, a strip about 70 meters wide was filled up. On the basis of this
backfill during 1763-1767. embankment was built.
On September 21,
1777, a storm and flood occurred that destroyed the fountains and the
Grotto pavilion. It was decided not to restore the fountains, both for
economic reasons and in accordance with the new trends in garden art,
which the empress, who followed the fashion, was addicted to (Catherine
II, in a letter to Voltaire, said that she hated fountains, considered
part of French gardens and tyranny, forcing flowing water in an
unnatural way, because she is a fan of English gardens and liberalism).
The aqueduct was dismantled, making room for the construction of the
Panteleymonovsky bridge. The Labyrinth and the People's Chambers were
dismantled, the Gavanets and the Transverse Canal were filled up. Both
gardens were combined into a large single space. "Garden ideas" are put
in order and exist for a number of years. And only in 1787-1790. are
finally understood. In 1798-1799. on the bank of the Swan Canal, a
terrace of hewn stone was built according to the project of G.P.
Pilnikov. In 1826, K. I. Rossi built the “Coffee House”, rebuilding the
Grotto pavilion destroyed in 1777. This period organically includes
monuments of previous eras.
In January 1771, Yuri Felten made a wooden model and compiled a
description for it, in which the architect indicated all the dimensions
of the stone parts of the future fence, thereby setting the general
proportions of the structure. After the decision was made to demolish
the second Summer Palace in the northwestern part of the garden (S. Van
Zwieten, D. Trezzini, M. Zemtsov, 1721-1726), the fence lengthened.
Three gates were located opposite the three main alleys. After the
beginning of Felten's pedagogical activity in 1772, the architect Pyotr
Yegorov was a direct observer of the work.
In the spring of 1771,
work began on the manufacture of an "iron grating by blacksmithing and
locksmith work under paint with three gates." 32 links of a forged
lattice, a large gate in the center and two small ones, on the right and
on the left, were forged in 1773-1777 at the Tula plant of the merchant
Denisov. The lattice was made by Tula blacksmith masters, the master
Ivashentsev is known from its creators.
For the fence, 36 pillars
of coarse-grained Karelian granite, delivered from Finland, were also
used. For five years, from 1772 to 1777, craftsmen from the village of
Putilov, Shlisselburg district, went to the capital in shifts: they
carved granite columns, breezes, bases, plinths. In 1782-1783, the
craftsmen made granite vases and urns and completed their installation.
For the last three months, the craftsmen have been working without
shifts in order to “repair their houses in the winter between shifts to
have more time at home.”
Altogether, 144 masons worked in shifts
to set up the iron bars on the pillars of the Summer Garden[12].
Despite the great flood on September 10 (21), 1777, the construction of
the fence was completed already in 1784.
The poet K. N.
Batyushkov noted: “Look at the lattice of the Summer Garden, which is
reflected by the greenery of tall lindens, elms and oaks! What lightness
and what harmony in her drawing. In 1824, the mineralogist D. I. Sokolov
wrote: “the embankments of St. Petersburg and the lattice of the Summer
Garden can be ranked among the wonders of the world.”
VI stage
(XIX century)
The historical layout, green area, individual
architectural structures, marble sculptures are preserved. Until the
middle of the XIX century. trellises are maintained in the garden. New
buildings are coming up. The Stone Terrace is being built on the Swan
Canal according to the project of G. P. Pilnikov (1799). The architect
K. I. Rossi rebuilds the Grotto pavilion into the Coffee House (1826).
According to the project of L. I. Charlemagne, a cast-iron fence and a
wooden Tea House (1827) are being built from the side of the Moika. Its
walls are built of logs and sheathed with boards, but the facades are
executed as if it were a stone building in the style of Russian
classicism: Doric columns, a balustrade, a cornice with modulons and
carved decorations. Two rooms, connected by colonnades and a common
roof, served as storerooms, and the middle part served as a shelter from
the rain for garden visitors.
In 1839, the Swedish King Charles
XIV presented Nicholas the First with a granite vase made at the
Elvdalen (Elfdal) manufactory in Sweden. The vase was installed on
September 10, 1839 between the pond and the southern fence and became
another decoration of the Summer Garden. It is known as the porphyry
vase of the Summer Garden.
In 1851-1855, the sculptor P. K. Klodt
erected a monument to I. A. Krylov. The idea to erect a monument to the
Russian fabulist arose as early as 1844. Then they began to collect
donations for its construction. Initially, it was planned to erect a
monument on Vasilyevsky Island between the buildings of the University
and the Academy of Sciences, but later the Summer Garden was chosen. In
1848, a competition was held in which the sculptors A. I. Terebenev, N.
S. Pimenov, I. P. Vitali, P. K. Klodt, and P. A. Stavasser participated.
The project presented by Peter Klodt became the winner. Modeling,
molding and casting were carried out during 1851-1853, in 1854 work
began on the installation of the monument. On May 12, 1855, the
sculpture was placed on a pedestal. The pedestal of dark gray Serdobol
granite is decorated with high-relief compositions performed by the same
Klodt based on the drawings of A. A. Agin based on the plots of the most
famous Krylov's fables. A realistically executed sculpture is installed
on the pedestal: Krylov sits in a spacious coat on a stone and holds an
open book in his hands.
Big changes affected the Neva fence. In
memory of the rescue of Emperor Alexander II during the attempt on his
life on April 4, 1866, a marble chapel of Alexander Nevsky (designed by
R. A. Kuzmin (1811-1867)) was built into the Nevsky fence, on the sides
of which they installed Small gate of the fence (1866-1868).
Stage VII (XX—XXI centuries)
In 1918, the 1866 chapel was closed, and
in 1930 it was completely dismantled. In place of the dismantled chapel
in 1930, a copy of the section of the ordinary link of the Neva fence
was installed.
In 1941, the architect and researcher T. D.
Dubyago developed a project for the restoration of the Summer Garden,
which was partially implemented after 1945.
In 1971, the
landscape architect N. E. Tumanova drew up a preliminary design for the
restoration of the Summer Garden, which provides for the partial
restoration of "garden ideas" and fountains. The project was not
implemented.
In the 1970s on the site of the Large Greenhouse and
the Green Cabinet bosquet, the Economic Yard and the TP building were
built. As a result, part of the transverse alley leading from the
Fontanka to the Swan Canal was lost.
In 2002, the competition of
the Gosstroy of the Russian Federation for the development of a project
for the restoration of the Summer Garden was won by the State Unitary
Enterprise Institute "Lenproektrestavratsiya" (director A. G. Belov).
Work on the project was carried out jointly with the company
"Rest-Art-Project" (director and chief architect of the project N. P.
Ivanov).
In 2004, the territory of the Summer Garden with the
Summer Palace and the House of Peter I became part of the State Russian
Museum. The Summer Garden became one of the branches of the Russian
Museum.
In 2008, the Government of the Russian Federation
allocated 2.3 billion rubles from the federal budget to hold an auction
for the right to perform the first stage of work on the comprehensive
reconstruction and overhaul of the Summer Garden in accordance with the
project developed by the Lenproektrestavratsiya Institute. As a result
of competitive procedures, OOO Profile became the general contractor for
all works. During 2009-2011 work was carried out on the restoration of
marble sculptures and pedestals, the restoration of a porphyry vase, the
manufacture of copies of sculptures and pedestals from artificial
marble, the restoration of the cast-iron fence by the architect L.I.
diseased trees, the reconstruction of 8 fountains (the ninth fountain
has been museumified), tapestries, bosquets - "Bird's Yard", "Cross
Pound", "Menageriy Pond", "French Parterre", reconstruction of the
pavilions "Small Orangery" and "Dovecote", berso, capital reconstruction
of the Economic Yard, installation of modern security and video
monitoring systems and a number of other facilities. Of the 1817 trees,
1550 were crowned. A total of 129 trees were cut down. Of these, 97 dry
and diseased trees and 32 due to planning work. 105 new trees of
different species, 12,000 small-leaved lindens, and more than 5,000
shrubs have been planted. The work was completed in December 2011. In
December 2011, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation checked
the progress of reconstruction and overhaul of the Summer Garden
(project 2009-2011). Based on the results of the audit, the Board noted
the effective work of the State Russian Museum and OOO Profile on the
implementation of the project for the reconstruction and overhaul of the
Summer Garden in St. Petersburg.
After two and a half years of
restoration, on May 27, 2012, the Summer Garden was solemnly opened to
visitors.
In November-December 2012, the Russian Museum held a
competition for the development of a project for the second stage of the
reconstruction of the Summer Garden entitled: "Completion of work on the
development of design estimates for the" Reconstruction and overhaul
with elements of the recreation of the ensemble-monument "Summer Garden"
and the House of Peter I on the Petrovskaya embankment”, II stage (House
of Peter the Great and the Summer Palace of Peter the Great). As a
result of competitive procedures, the Russian Museum signed a contract
for these works with the company Profil LLC, which previously carried
out work on the first stage of the reconstruction of the Summer Garden
(2009-2011) as a general contractor. The cost of project development is
117,202,070.61 rubles.
History of the collection
The main part of the collection is
marble sculptures by Italian masters of the late 17th - early 18th
centuries. At the beginning of the 18th century, the confidants of Peter
I, art connoisseurs Count Savva Raguzinsky-Vladislavich and Yuri
Kologrivov, were engaged in the acquisition of sculptures in Italy at
the beginning of the 18th century. Already in 1710, there were about
thirty statues and busts in the garden. In subsequent years, their
number increased and by 1728 it had already reached more than a hundred.
Many sculptural works are signed by their performers.
The
collection includes works by Italian sculptors P. Baratta (1668-1729):
the sculptural group “Peace and Victory. Allegory of the Peace of
Nystad" (1725), statues "Allegory of Architecture" (circa 1722),
"Allegory of Mercy" (1717), "Allegory of Navigation" (until 1722),
"Allegory of Justice" (1719), "Glory" (circa 1718) , busts "Alexander
the Great" (circa 1720), "Allegory of Abundance" (early 18th century),
"Allegory of the World" ("Woman in a Diadem") (circa 1719), "Allegory of
Autumn (Bacchus)" (circa 1717) , "Allegory of the Sun (Apollo)" (circa
1717), "Camilla" (beginning of the 18th century), "Young Woman (Roman)"
(beginning of the 18th century), "Flora" (beginning of the 18th
century), "Young man" (beginning of the 18th century); Giovanni Bernini
(G. Bernini) (1598-1680), school: sculptural group "Cupid and Psyche"
(end of the 17th century); Giovanni Bonazza (G. Banazza) (1654-1736):
statues "Aurora" (1717), "Sunset" (1717), "Night" (1717), "Noon" (1717),
"Sibyl Delphic" (1719); Giuseppe Groppelli / Groppelli (G. Groppelli)
(1675-1735) and Paolo Groppelli / Groppelli (P. Groppelli) (1677-1751):
statues "Air Nymph" (circa 1717), "Thalia" (circa 1719), "Terpsichore
"(about 1722), "Euterpe" (about 1722); Marino Groppelli / Groppelli (M.
Groppelli) (1662-1728): statues "Allegory of sincerity" (1717),
"Allegory of truth" (1717); Giovanni Dzordzoni / Zorzoni (G.Zorzoni)
(1663-1741): statues "Allegory of Beauty" (circa 1719), "European Sibyl"
(1717), "Libyan Sibyl" (1717); Antonio Corradini (A. Corradini)
(1668-1752): statue of "Nereid" (circa 1717), busts of "Petronia Prima"
(1717), "Scribonia" (beginning of the 18th century); Orazio Marinali (O.
Marinali) (1643-1720): busts of Apollo (circa 1717), Aristotle (early
18th century), Heraclitus (early 18th century), Democritus (early 18th
century). 18th century), Diogenes (beginning of the 18th century), Mars
(circa 1717), Seneca (beginning of the 18th century), King Midas
(beginning of the 18th century), Aesculapius (beginning of the 18th
century); Bortolo Modolo (B. Modolo) (circa 1681–?): busts of the Sibyl
of Samos (early 18th century), the Sibyl of Eritrea (circa 1717);
Francesco Penso (Cabianca / Cabianca) (F. Penso Cabianca) (1665-1737):
statues of Antina (1722), Vertumn (1717), Pomona (1717), Saturn (1716),
busts Vespasian (circa 1717), Marcia Furnilla (circa 1716), Nero
(beginning of the 18th century), Tiberius (circa 1717), Titus (circa
1717), Trajan (beginning of the 18th century) V.); Alvise Tagliapietra
(1670-1747): Bellona statue (circa 1718); Antonio Tarsia (A. Tarsia)
(1662-1739): statues "Nemesis" (1716), "Rock" (circa 1716), "Youth"
(circa 1722), a bust "Allegory of the Day" (beginning of the 18th
century); Paolo Triscornia (P. Triscornia) (1757-1833): statues "Apollo"
(circa 1800), "Diana" (XVIII century), the Flemish sculptor Thomas
Quellinus (T. Quellinus) (1661-1709): statues "Minerva" (1690s), "The
Nymph of the Summer Garden" (1690s), "Ceres" (1690s), by the German
sculptor Heinrich Meyring (1628-1723): the statue "Flora" (1717), as
well as a number of works by unknown sculptors of the late 17th - early
18th centuries.
In 1720, an antique statue of Venus was installed
in a gallery on the banks of the Neva, made by an unknown Italian
sculptor in the 2nd or 3rd century BC. e. from the Greek original of
Aphrodite of Cnidus or Venus of Capitoline. The statue was found during
excavations in Italy in 1719 and presented to Peter I by Pope Clement
XI. In the 18th century, the sculpture, excellent in terms of
workmanship, attracted special attention of visitors to the Summer
Garden as one of its main attractions. Now this statue, which is called
"Venus Tauride", is in the collection of the State Hermitage.
The
sculptural decoration of the Summer Garden in the 18th century was
complemented by numerous, mostly lead, gilded sculptures that adorned
its fountains, which were subsequently lost.
According to the
theme, the sculpture of the Summer Garden can be divided into three
large groups: historical, allegorical and mythological content. Among
them there are separate small series connected by the unity of content:
such is a series depicting different times of the day, allegorical
statues personifying the sciences and arts, etc. Sculptural portraits of
historical figures are interesting - Alexander the Great, Marcus
Aurelius, the Polish king Jan Sobessky, and also statues allegorically
depicting Architecture, Glory, Navigation, Justice and characters of
ancient mythology - Minerva, Bellona, Nemesis, Euterpe, Flora, Mercury,
Bacchus, etc. Some are imitations of ancient originals.
In 1974,
during archaeological excavations in the area of the household yard, a
marble herm "Bacchus" was found in the ground (unknown sculptor, Italy,
18th century).
To date, the collection of original marble
sculptures of the Summer Garden consists of 92 storage units (38
statues, 5 sculptural groups, 48 busts and 1 herm), which, after a major
restoration, are mainly stored in the halls of the Engineering
(Mikhailovsky) castle (90 storage units) . The original Pietro Baratta
Peace and Victory (Peace of Nystadt) (1725), after complete restoration,
is located in its historical place in the Summer Garden between the
Summer Palace of Peter I and the Neva River. Herma "Bacchus" was not
restored and is currently located in the pavilion "Dovecote" of the
bosquet "Bird's Yard" of the Summer Garden. This monument is an exhibit
of a permanent exhibition.
All original marble sculptures and most of the pedestals have been
repeatedly restored.
Taking into account the irreversible process
of natural aging and destruction of Carrara marble, from which the
sculptures were made, which were more than three hundred years in the
open air, and constant acts of vandalism, in 1986 the Executive
Committee of the Leningrad City Council of Workers' Deputies adopted a
Resolution "On making copies of the sculpture of the Summer Garden". For
ten years from 1986 to 1996, 25 copies of sculptural busts were made.
From 1996 to 2003 - 3 more copies of the statues. Thus, until 2004, a
total of 28 copies were made from a material called "Portland cement".
In 2003, copying was suspended.
Since 2004, the collection of
marble sculptures from the Summer Garden has legally become an integral
part of the collection of the Russian Museum. From 2005 to 2009, the
Department for the Restoration of Exhibits of the Russian Museum
restored 24 sculptures with pedestals, which had the most significant
damage.
From 2009 to 2011, as part of the works on the first
stage of the complex restoration and reconstruction of the Summer
Garden, all original marble sculptures and pedestals were completely
restored (with the exception of the Bacchus marble herm, which is an
exhibit of the permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of
archaeological research in the Summer Garden) and moved to the halls of
the Engineering (Mikhailovsky) castle for permanent museum storage.
Granite pedestals after restoration were returned to the Summer Garden
and installed in their historical places.
After the restoration,
silicone molds were removed from all original marble sculptures (with
the exception of two exhibits - the sculptural group "Peace and Victory"
(Nystad peace) and the "Bacchus" herm) and exact copies were made from
artificial marble (natural marble chips of various fractions and a
polymer binder ), which were installed by November 2011 in the Summer
Garden. In total, 90 copies of sculptures (statues, busts, sculptural
groups) and 152 pedestals and bust stands were made.
Restoration
of the statue "Minerva"
The Minerva statue, like all sculptures in
the Summer Garden, has been repeatedly restored. On the basis of
archival documents, only during the 20th century, it was restored 6
times. The last serious damage to the statue was in 2003, when vandals
pulled out a spear from the sculpture, damaging the fingers of the left
hand, a fragment of the plinth, etc. After the inclusion of the Summer
Garden in the structure of the Russian Museum in 2004, the statue
restoration. The work was carried out during 2005. After that, taking
into account the general degradation of the marble, it was decided not
to return the original to the Summer Garden, but to install a copy
there. In 2009-2011 an exact copy of natural marble chips was made from
the restored original and installed at the historical site of the
sculpture in the Summer Garden. The original is stored in the museum
halls of the Engineering (Mikhailovsky) Castle.
Restoration of
the statue "Youth"
Despite the fact that the statue was restored
seven times only during the 20th century, it almost did not suffer
during its three-century history. However, in 2001, during a hurricane,
the monument was damaged by a fallen tree, as a result of which the
forearm of the left hand and the tambourine, along with the fingers of
the right hand, were split into 28 fragments of various sizes. A major
restoration was carried out at the end of 2005. In 2006, the sculpture
was installed in its historical place in the Summer Garden. As part of
the project for the restoration and reconstruction of the Summer Garden
(2009-2011), the Youth statue was cleaned of dirt, a silicone mold was
removed from it and an exact copy was made from natural marble chips. A
copy was installed in the Summer Garden in 2011. The original is stored
in the halls of the Engineering (Mikhailovsky) castle.
The Summer Garden was conceived by Peter I as a garden of fountains,
so it is not surprising that they eventually became one of the essential
elements of the garden ensemble. Without them, he could not imagine a
real garden that could compete in its beauty with the famous parks of
Versailles. Therefore, when outlining the plan for the "garden", he
assigned one of the primary places to the construction of a system of
fountains. Already in 1705, the tsar ordered the architect I. M.
Ugryumov (Matveev) "to make the preparation of piles, the wheels of the
great ... also two with fingers and a few gears", explaining that "this
is necessary for the construction of water to the fountains."
After the death of Ugryumov in 1707, the construction of fountains was
continued by the architects invited from Europe, Jagan Kintler, H. van
Bolos. In 1725 there were 20 fountains in the garden, and by 1736 there
were over 50. Some of the fountains were decorated with gilded lead
groups, mostly scenes from Aesop's fables. Initially, the water-lifting
mechanism that supplied the fountains was horse-drawn. In 1718, it was
replaced by Russia's first "fire engine" in the form of a
steam-atmospheric pump designed by the French engineer T. Desaguliers
(Desaguliers, Theophile, 1683-1743). This pump, purchased by order of
Peter I in 1717-1718 in England, was installed in one of the rooms of
the grotto.
In 1718-1721, according to the project of G. G.
Skornyakov-Pisarev, the Ligovsky Canal was dug to supply the fountains
of the Summer Garden and supply the city with drinking water. The canal
was the implementation of a complex urban planning task for its time to
create a city water conduit. The canal began in the south-west of St.
Petersburg near the Liga River (now the Dudergofka River), flowing from
the Dudergofskoye Lake, located 24 meters above the level of the Summer
Garden, and ended with an artificial pool at the corner of modern
Nekrasov Street (formerly Basseynaya Street) and Grechesky Prospekt.
Pipes were laid from the pool in 1725-1727 to the fountains of the
Summer Garden, they crossed the Fontanka River along a wooden aqueduct
bridge built by master X. van Boles and located on the site of the
current Panteleimonovsky bridge. In 1748-1749 it was replaced by a new
baroque aqueduct designed by the architect F. B. Rastrelli. The aqueduct
was lavishly decorated with stucco, and even the lines of the arches
were carved.
Friedrich-Wilhelm Bergholz, Duke of Holstein's
chamber junker, in his diary describes the fountains of the Summer
Garden in 1721 as follows: “From this gallery begins the widest alley,
in which beautiful high-flowing fountains are arranged. Water for them
is pumped by a large wheeled machine from the canal into special pools,
and therefore there is always enough of it. At the first fountain is the
place where the queen usually visits with her ladies, and at the next
there are three or four tables at which they drink and smoke tobacco.
This is the place of the king. To the right of this platform stands a
beautiful statue with a covered face, at the foot of which water flows
or, rather, beats in all directions ... a fountain in the form of a
gilded cascade, decorated with many gilded vessels, is arranged opposite
the poultry house ... ".
A large area of the Second Summer Garden
was occupied by the Labyrinth, on the paths of which fountains were
placed with gilded lead sculptural groups on the subjects of Aesop's
fables. Significant work on the construction of the fountains of the
Second Summer Garden was carried out by B.K. Rastrelli. “I ordered to
dig a pond of great length, located near the palace, which belongs to
the new garden, where I also arranged a large labyrinth of greenery,
consisting of linden alleys with hedges of various trees, in places
decorated with gilded bas-reliefs, with vases, with jets of water flying
up; several marble statues were placed around this large pool ... in the
new garden, on the orders of the empress, he built a large bathroom
building with a large hall covered with a dome, with a large fountain of
many jets ... ".
Almost all water cannons located on the
territory of the garden once had their own names. Less than ten names
have come down to us: "Tsaritsyn" fountain, "Armorial", "Pyramid",
"Crown", "Apple", "Favorite" and "Lacoste". This also includes the
cascades "Dolphin" and "Amphitheater".
The Tsaritsyn Fountain,
located on the first platform from the Neva along the Central Alley, was
named after Catherine I. Here the Empress usually met guests who arrived
in the garden from the Neva.
The Armored Fountain, located on the
second site, got its name from the carved double-headed eagles that
flaunted in the center of the water cannon. Oak coats of arms, made by
the “carving master” Kondrat Gan, were inlaid with overseas shells in
1721.
The Pyramid fountain was located on the fourth platform
along the main alley. Once upon a time there was a square fountain in
this place, however, Catherine I wished to see a pyramid here. “The
drawing of a tetrahedral fantana ... remake it so that it looks like a
pyramid,” her decree read. Perhaps the Pyramid fountain in the Summer
Garden was an exact copy of the Peterhof fountain of the same name.
The Crown Fountain, located in front of the former entrance to the
Summer Garden from the side of the Amusing Meadow (now the Field of
Mars), was multi-jet. It got its truly royal name from the shape of the
jets that form a crown-like composition.
The “Apple” or “Apple”
fountain located in the Fabulnaya grove in the second Summer Garden,
apparently, was presented in the form of apple tree branches through
which jets beat.
The name of the fountain "Pharaoh" is one of the
most unexpected for the Summer Garden. Judging by the inventory of 1824,
such a water cannon stood in the grotto and was dismantled in 1781. It
was a "fountain lead figure ... of the Pharaoh with an army."
Fountain "Narcissus" can be attributed to the little-known water cannons
of the Summer Garden. It was located in the Oak Grove, now defunct, not
far from the palace of Peter I. The water cannon was decorated with a
statue of a seated Narcissus, who peered thoughtfully into the fountain
bowl.
The mention of the fountain "Seal" we meet in the notes of
F. W. Bergholtz (F. W. Bergholtz), who in 1723 saw a "live seal" in the
water jet pool. This is also reported in a private letter from the
regimental clerk Savitsky dated June 5, 1718: on his birthday, May 30,
Peter I took guests around the Summer Garden, where, among other things,
he showed "fountains and marvelous sea animals floating in them."
In the Summer Garden, Peterhof fountains were often repeated. In
1725, a single-jet round fountain "Favorite" was opened in Peterhof, for
the sake of a joke named after Catherine I's favorite dog. A special
water turbine set in motion a horizontal wheel on which four copper
ducks and a dog sat one after another, unsuccessfully "catching up" with
birds . At the same time, as eyewitnesses write, the dog naturally
“talked”, and the ducks “quacked”. Catherine was delighted with such fun
and immediately ordered to arrange a similar one in the Summer Garden.
In the following 1728, the fountain was built and took its place in the
southern bosquet in front of the Grotto pavilion. In the inventory of
the garden of 1736, “Favorite” is also mentioned: “From the grotto, on
both sides of the road, there are two cobblestone bends, one to Favorite
... the other to the new Lacoste fountain, which is still unfinished.”
The fountain "Lacoste" mentioned in the document can be called the
fountain-satellite of the "Favorite". It was located symmetrically to
the Favorite fountain, in the center of the right "green office".
The fountains and their water supply system were destroyed by a
catastrophic flood on September 21, 1777. Catherine II decided not to
restore them.
As part of the first stage of the reconstruction
and overhaul of the Summer Garden (2009-2011), 8 fountains were
recreated on the basis of archaeological excavations. The ninth fountain
"Lacoste" is museumified.