Alexander Garden (Александровский Сад) is a park in the Tverskoy district of Moscow, located along the western Kremlin wall, stretching from Revolution Square to the Kremlin embankment. It was founded in 1812. The park with an area of 10 hectares consists of three parts: the Upper, Middle and Lower gardens. It contains such historical objects as the Kutafya Tower of the Kremlin, the Italian Grotto, an obelisk dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and others. A special place is occupied by monuments dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Great Patriotic War.
Until the 18th century, the Neglinnaya River flowed on the site of
the Alexander Garden, through which four bridges were thrown: Kuznetsky,
Petrovsky, Voskresensky and Troitsky. Folk festivals were historically
organized on the banks of the river, its water was clean and famous for
fishing. Over time, the river became polluted, the coast collapsed and
overgrown. At the end of the 18th century, Neglinnaya was launched
through the canal. After the end of the Patriotic War, Emperor Alexander
I decided to remove the river underground, enclosing it in a pipe three
kilometers long, the builder Yegor Cheliev supervised the work. Gardens
were laid out on the vacated site according to the project of the
architect Osip Bove as part of a plan to restore Moscow after the fire
of 1812. This garden had a memorial significance - it was created in
honor of the victory in the Patriotic War, but also had a utilitarian
and entertainment function and was intended for public use.
The
gardens were built from 1819 to 1823 and were originally called the
Kremlin. In 1820-1821 Beauvais designed a part of the garden from the
Resurrection Gate to the Trinity Gate - the Upper Garden, his work was
continued by assistants Davydov, Petrov and others. For the arrangement
of the garden, the area was leveled and covered with turf, lindens,
birches, mountain ash and other trees and shrubs were planted. Cast-iron
gates depicting the symbols of victory in the Patriotic War, made by the
architect Yevgeny Pascal, were installed at the main entrance.
After the coronation of Alexander II in 1856, the gardens were renamed
Alexander Gardens. At that time, a shallow ditch planned by Beauvais ran
along the garden, limiting the territory from Neglinnaya Street, and a
low metal fence created in the 1820s by the architect Fyodor Shestakov,
but not preserved to this day.
Modernity
During the
reconstruction of 2012-2013, some of the old trees were cut down in the
garden, and 200 new ones were planted, as well as 2,700 shrubs, a 750 m²
rose garden with 3,000 bushes was planted, and new lamps were installed.
In 2015, 26,000 m² of old asphalt was replaced in the garden with
new tiles, and cosmetic repairs were made next to the monuments. In
October 2016, it was announced that the garden would be equipped with
free Wi-Fi, but the implementation dates were not determined.
City events are held in the garden: in 2017, the park hosted the closing
of the Military Bands in City Parks festival, as well as a review of
children's brass bands in the Italian Grotto. Every year on City Day and
Victory Day, flowers are laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War.
The Upper Garden was opened in 1821, its length is 350 meters - from the Revolution Square to the Trinity Tower.
On May 8, 1967, an architectural memorial ensemble was
installed on the territory of the Upper Garden - the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier, where the remains of the Red Army soldiers who died in 1941 in
the Battle of Moscow were reburied. The memorial was designed by Yuri
Rabaev, Dmitry Burdin, Vladimir Klimov and Nikolai Tomsky. On the
tombstone there is a bronze composition of a soldier's helmet, a laurel
branch and a battle banner. In the very center of the memorial there is
an inscription: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal." To the
left of the Grave there is a crimson quartzite wall with the
inscription: “1941 to the Fallen for the Motherland 1945”, to the right
is a granite alley with twelve separate blocks of dark red porphyry,
each of which indicates the name of the hero city, there is an image of
the “Golden Star”, and inside the blocks are capsules with earth.
Near the memorial, the Eternal Flame is burning, brought from the
Field of Mars from St. Petersburg. Alexey Maresyev accepted the torch,
and Leonid Brezhnev placed fire in the center of the star. Next to the
Eternal Flame is Post No. 1, where, since December 12, 1997, from 08:00
to 20:00, there is a guard of honor of the Presidential Regiment. Every
year on June 22, on the day of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War,
the guard of honor takes over, wreaths are laid at the fire and memorial
candles are lit.
In 2009, the monument received national status.
In December of the same year, due to the repair of communications of the
memorial complex, the Eternal Flame from the Alexander Garden was
transferred to Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill, and on February 23 of
the following year they were returned to their place.
May 2017
marks the 50th anniversary of the lighting of the Eternal Flame at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The servicemen transferred the fire to the
copy of the star on the Grave with the same torch as 50 years ago, those
gathered in the garden honored the memory of those who died during the
war with a minute of silence.
In 1820, according to the project of Osip Bove, in the
center of the Upper Garden near the Middle Arsenal Tower of the Kremlin,
the Ruiny grotto, also called the Italian Grotto, was erected. This is a
semicircular arch made of black granite and red brick, inside of which
there are marble gates with four massive columns. The grotto was built
from Moscow houses destroyed by the French army and stone cores. The
staircase in the southern part of the grotto leads to the sculptures of
two lions. In this building, Beauvais combines the classics of Moscow
with architectural antiquity.
In the 19th and early 20th
centuries, a regimental band played in the Grotto on weekends and
attractions were organized. In 1872, in honor of the 200th anniversary
of the birth of Peter I, the Polytechnic Exhibition was held in the
pavilions next to the grotto with technical and cultural exhibits, which
became the basis for the Polytechnic Museum.
In 1913, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanovs, a Romanov monument-obelisk by architect Sergei Vlasyev was erected near the main entrance to the garden. The four-sided stele was crowned with a double-headed eagle, under the obelisk there was a lion with a sword and shield, the coat of arms and names of the Romanovs, as well as the coats of arms of the principalities and provinces of the Russian Empire. At the end of the October Revolution, the obelisk was renamed the “Monument to Revolutionaries and Theoreticians of Socialism” and modified. Tsarist symbols were removed from the composition, the names of the Romanovs were replaced with the names of revolutionary figures, inscriptions appeared: “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” and RSFSR. In 1966, the obelisk was moved to the central part of the Upper Garden next to the Ruins Grotto. In 2013, during the restoration, the obelisk was returned to its original appearance.
In May 2013, a bronze monument to Patriarch Hermogenes on a marble pedestal was erected in the garden, designed by the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Ilya Glazunov. The pedestal is decorated with bas-reliefs: one depicts the scene of the election of Mikhail Romanov as king, the second depicts the expulsion of the boyars by Patriarch Hermogenes, asking for his blessing. The composition of the artistic group that worked on its creation is also listed on the monument, and the history of the monument is listed on a separate pedestal.
The fountain complex is located on the edge of the Alexander Garden along Manezhnaya Square, was installed in 1996. The complex consists of six parts: Geyser, Neglinnaya River, Veil, Snail, Waterfall, Grotto, which are decorated with sculptures by Zurab Tsereteli. The fountain "Neglinaya River" imitates the riverbed, it is decorated with the sculptural composition "Heroes of Fairy Tales" with sculptures of characters: a mermaid, Ivan Tsarevich with the Frog Princess and others. The second large fountain in the complex - "Geyser", is decorated with the sculpture "Seasons", depicting four horses - four seasons. The remaining fountains of the complex are small and serve as an addition to the main part.
The monument to the revolutionary Maximilian Robespierre, now lost, was made according to the project of Beatrice Sandomierz and installed in the Alexander Garden on November 3, 1918 on the site of the Romanovsky obelisk. On the morning of November 7, the monument was found destroyed, the exact cause of the destruction was not established.
The Middle Garden was opened a year later than the Upper Garden, in 1822. It runs from Troitskaya to Borovitskaya tower, its length is 382 meters. In the 16th-17th centuries, the Sovereign's Apothecary Garden was located on this site, where medicinal herbs were grown and taken to the Aptekarsky Prikaz. As of 2017, the cash desks of the Moscow Kremlin museums are located in this part of the garden.
The Kutafya Tower is the only surviving 13.5-meter-high diversion tower of the Kremlin. Erected in 1516 under the guidance of the architect Aleviz Fryazin. The tower served as an obstacle during the siege of the fortress, was surrounded by the Neglinnaya River and a moat. It received its modern look in 1685, when it was decorated with an openwork crown with separate white stone details, and in 1780 the dilapidated brick vault covering the tower was dismantled.
Troitsky Bridge - one of the oldest stone bridges in Moscow, connects Kutafya and Troitskaya Kremlin towers. The nine-span brick bridge was built in 1516, also according to the project of Aleviz Fryazin. The openwork top of the bridge with white stone details appeared in the same year as the design of the Kutafya Tower. After the reconstruction, which was led by Beauvais, the Trinity Bridge ended up in the center of the Alexander Garden, but still remained part of the route to the Kremlin through the Trinity Tower. Beauvais also designed ramps that have not survived to this day - semi-circular sloping descents into the garden from the bridge, decorated with trellises, vases and lanterns, which formed a single composition along with the arch under the bridge. In 1901, the bridge was rebuilt, and it acquired a modern look.
The monument to Alexander I by sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov was unveiled on November 20, 2014. The emperor is depicted in full dress holding a sword, and under his feet lies an enemy weapon. Opposite the monument are bronze bas-reliefs with images of the Battle of Borodino, commanders of the Patriotic War of 1812, Hieromonk Seraphim of Sarov and two churches - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Kazan Cathedral.
The lower garden is the shortest of the three parts, its length is 132 meters. It was opened in 1823 and stretched from the Borovitskaya Tower to the Kremlin Embankment. In the late 1930s, part of the Lower Garden was cut down in connection with the construction of the Great Stone Bridge. There are no walking alleys in the Lower Garden; in 2017, it is closed to visitors.
Part of the action of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The
Master and Margarita takes place in the garden.
The garden is
depicted in the book by Alexei Pimanov and in the television series
"Alexander Garden".
The action takes place in the garden at the
beginning of Boris Akunin's novel "Azazel".