The Alexander Park runs directly to the west of the Catherine Palace, and covers around 200 hectares. It begins with what is left of the New Garden,
a square surrounded by the Cross Canal and divided into four smaller squares, each with a complex geometrical lay-out. Constructed in the reign of Elizabeth,
the New Garden is now almost completely overgrown, with the most visible remains being Mount Parnassus, a small artificial hill covered in birches,
and the Mushroom Bed,
a convergence of eight little alleys marked by unusually shaped wrought-iron benches that took the place of a gazebo in the early 19th century.
a square surrounded by the Cross Canal and divided into four smaller squares, each with a complex geometrical lay-out. Constructed in the reign of Elizabeth,
the New Garden is now almost completely overgrown, with the most visible remains being Mount Parnassus, a small artificial hill covered in birches,
and the Mushroom Bed,
a convergence of eight little alleys marked by unusually shaped wrought-iron benches that took the place of a gazebo in the early 19th century.