Kremlin

President of Russia

| A WORD TO VISITORS |
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| PHOTO ALBUM |
| DISCOVERING THE KREMLIN |
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| RUSSIAN |

National Priorities:
| Resolving the Housing Problem
| Military Reform
| Russia in the CIS

THE ALEXANDROVSKY GARDENS |

| Moscow Kremlin

Administrative buildings | The Kremlin Towers | The Kremlin Cathedrals | Squares and Gardens

Red Square

Ivanovskaya Square

Cathedral Square

Tainitsky Gardens

The Grand Kremlin Public Garden

The Alexandrovsky Gardens

The Alexandrovsky Gardens

In olden days, the Neglinnaya River ran along the northern side of the Kremlin, but in the early 19th century it was piped underground. In 1820 Emperor Alexander I, anxious to restore Moscow after the great fire of 1812, ordered gardens to be laid out there to commemorate the liberation of Russia and Europe from Napoleon. The memorial significance of the Alexandrovsky Gardens is reflected in the wrought-iron gates designed by architect E. Pascal, on the side of the State History Museum. These gates, decorated with symbols of the victory in the War of 1812, are now in harmony with sculptor Klykov’s monument to Marshal Georgy R. Zhukov, the hero of a different Patriotic War - WWII. The gardens were laid out using a design by architect Osip Beauvais. The first garden to be opened to the public was the Upper Garden, stretching 350 meters from the Corner Arsenal Tower to the Troitsky Bridge. The second was the Middle Garden - 382 meters long, stretching from the Troitskaya Tower to the Borovitskaya Tower - and the last was the Lower Garden (132 meters). Ramps were built for convenience to lead from the Troitsky Bridge to the gardens. At the foot of the Middle Arsenal Tower there is an ancient-style grotto. As a reminder of the great fire of 1812, the flanks of the grotto are covered with fragments of Moscow buildings damaged by Napoleon’s troops.

In 1914 an obelisk was erected there to commemorate the 300-year anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, but it was “reconstructed” in 1918: the names of the Romanovs were replaced by those of “revolutionary thinkers.”

In May 1967 the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built in the Alexadrovsky Gardens.

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