In the very first year of her reign, Catherine the Great ordered the young architect Yuri Felten to draft a project for a grand granite embankment. The decree dated June 7, 1770, states: “The side of the First Garden facing the Neva River, due to the repair of the stone embankment, is currently without a fence, which allows people of all ranks to freely enter the garden in summer and winter, posing a danger that the garden could suffer damage or theft from people, as tiles have already been stolen before. Moreover, the view from the Neva is unpleasant without anything there. Therefore, it is not appropriate to allow access to the garden in winter. For this reason, the chief architect Fok and the sub-lieutenant rank Bunsch are ordered to create a project for the best possible iron fence along the Neva side of the First Garden, to prepare the necessary materials and cost estimate, and to present it to the Office immediately.”

The authorship of the fence still causes debate among historians, as besides Felten and Egorov, the documents mention other architects such as Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, Ivan Fok, and Daniil Bunsch. A document sent by Betsky to Catherine II on September 10, 1770, reads: “Her Imperial Majesty has verbally instructed me to build an iron fence with gates on a stone foundation with pillars and a base of rough stone along the Neva River by the First Garden, according to the approved drawing by Her Majesty. In fulfillment of this highest imperial order, the mentioned Office, following the drawing and the estimate prepared by architect Felten (which I attach herewith), is to build this fence and to procure the necessary materials and other items in advance so that the work on the fence can begin next spring.”

By that time, Yuri Matveyevich Felten was just beginning his creative path and had not yet become famous for independent great works. However, he had recently been appointed assistant to the chief court architect Rastrelli, and by assisting the renowned master, he managed to establish himself as a talented craftsman. Instead of the dilapidated wooden embankments from Peter’s era, he created a beautiful granite-clad embankment, which to this day is rightly considered one of the iconic symbols of St. Petersburg. Construction in the Summer Garden area lasted several years and was completed by the 1770s. The embankment project also included the construction of beautiful granite bridges over rivers and canals. In 1768, the Lower Lebyazhy Bridge over the Lebyazhy Canal along the western border of the Summer Garden was completed. In 1769, the Laundry Bridge over the source of the Fontanka near the Summer Palace of the Summer Garden was finished.

And here, at the very beginning of the 1770s, the Empress noticed that the old fence of the Summer Garden did not match the newly built majestic embankment. It was probably then that Felten developed the project for the fence with three gates, 32 sections of metal lattice, and 36 granite pillars. The Empress liked it and approved it. By spring 1771, granite for the foundation and pillars of the “iron fence with blacksmith and locksmith work and three gates” began to be quarried in the Karelian quarries. The granite parts were carved by craftsmen from the village of Putilovo, located in Southern Ladoga, near the present Murmansk Highway. Between 1773 and 1777, the fence links were forged at the Tula factory of merchant Denisov. They were entirely hand-forged. But in 1777, the city was flooded by a terrible autumn flood. The Summer Garden, along with many other places in the city center, was flooded. Many structures were damaged, including Peter’s fountains, which were later decided to be dismantled (the current fountains, recently restored, are made more in the style of the old ones but are still reproductions, as the exact drawings have not survived). The flood caused such damage to the garden that it was closed for several years and visitors were not allowed in until everything was fully restored. Naturally, the construction of the Neva embankment fence was also suspended. Therefore, it was completed relatively late — only in 1784. The beautiful fence immediately became perceived as one of the symbols of the Neva capital. As the scientist and mineralogist Sokolov wrote in 1824, “the embankments of Petersburg and the fence of the Summer Garden can be counted among the wonders of the world.” The poet Batyushkov also considered it the most beautiful: “Look at the fence of the Summer Garden, which is reflected by the greenery of tall lindens, elms, and oaks! What lightness and what grace in its design,” he wrote enthusiastically. “I have seen the famous fence of the Tuileries Palace, burdened, crushed, so to speak, by decorations — pikes, helmets, trophies. It is ugly compared to this one.”

The fence of the Summer Garden is a characteristic monument of strict classicism. The strict, straight lines of the fence pattern are softened by gilded details and the intricate ornamentation of the gates, while the monolithic granite pillars are enlivened by stone vases.

It would seem that this beautiful, harmonious ensemble was not subject to any changes and would stand through the centuries. However, fate decided otherwise. In the second half of the following 19th century, Emperor Alexander II came to power. This tsar, on the one hand, wanted to carry out a series of progressive liberal reforms for the benefit of the people, and on the other hand, wanted to preserve the foundations of autocracy and the estate system. The unrest in society led to a period of assassination attempts on the emperor. The first was the attempt by Karakozov. In the spring of 1866, he arrived from Moscow to the capital Petersburg and planned to suddenly shoot the tsar at point-blank range on the embankment, near the fence of the Summer Garden. On April 4, he ambushed the tsar at the gates from the embankment side. The tsar had come from the Winter Palace to walk in the garden. Blending with the crowd gathered around the tsar, Karakozov broke through to him and fired at point-blank range but missed and was immediately seized by the guards. According to the official version, the tsar was saved by a brave Kostroma peasant, Osip Ivanovich Komissarov, who diverted the assassin’s hand. Karakozov was imprisoned in the Alexeevsky Ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The place where the assassination attempt occurred was decorated in 1866–1867 according to a project by academic architect Kuzmin with a chapel built into the fence, constructed in the traditions of early eclecticism, in the neo-Baroque style with elements of classicism. According to the memoirs of the Minister of Internal Affairs Valuev, the foundation laying took place on September 1, 1864, two days before Karakozov’s execution. For this, the main gates of the garden were demolished, and the two side gates were moved closer to the center. The chapel was consecrated in the name of the heavenly patron of Alexander II, St. Alexander Nevsky. Inside the chapel was a mosaic image of Alexander Nevsky, created by the master Neff. Although the tsar requested the chapel to be made in a strict style so as not to disrupt the view of the Summer Garden fence, its massiveness still created some dissonance. Interestingly, even today, although the chapel no longer exists at this location, the gates have never been restored.

Sources:

https://peterburg.center/story/legendy-ob-ograde-letnego-sada-reshyotka-letnego-sada-odno-iz-chudes-mira-v-peterburge.html

http://www.nogardia.ru/articles/show/54/