Mikhaylovsky garden, summer

The Michael (Mikhailovsky) Garden takes its name from the Michael (Mikhailovsky) Palace (better known to visitors as the main building of the Russian Museum) which it adjoins. Throughout its long and varied history it has been a formal French garden, a hunting reserve and nursery, and during the reign of the Empress Elizabeth it housed labyrinths and fountains. Under the Emperor Paul the Garden was used for horseback riding, and it began to acquire its present features at the beginning of the 19th century. The construction of the Michael Castle, and the Michael Palace, both of which border the garden. The Michael Palace from which the Garden takes its name was built in 1819-1825 by Carlo Rossi for Grand Duke Michael, brother of the Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. When construction of the Palace finished in 1825, the Garden was turned into a landscaped park.