In Peter the Great’s time, the so-called Menshikov Market stood on the site of the garden. During the construction of the Academy of Arts building, this area served as a construction site. Later, it became the parade ground of the Cadet Corps, which was housed in the Menshikov Palace. It was here in 1818 that the obelisk, known as the “Rumyantsev’s Victories,” was relocated from the Marble Palace.

The obelisk has its own interesting history. Initially, it was installed on the Field of Mars (then called Tsaritsyn Meadow), near the Moika River. Later, a decision was made to replace it with a monument to Suvorov, which still stands on the Field of Mars, but closer to the Trinity Bridge. From there, the obelisk was moved to Vasilyevsky Island and installed on the square near the Cadet Corps under the pretext that the count supposedly studied there. In reality, Rumyantsev, who was quite a rake in his youth, studied at the Cadet Corps for only four months before being disgracefully expelled for negligence and hooliganism. During the relocation, architect K. Rossi slightly altered the monument’s appearance. It was placed on a granite three-step stylobate and the area was named Rumyantsev Square.

In the 1860s, funded by the honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, merchant Solovyov, who owned two houses on Rumyantsev Square, a public garden was laid out around the obelisk. Architect Kovrigin designed it according to the principles of symmetry. After the garden was established, there was a proposal to name it Solovyov Garden, but it did not receive the highest approval, and officially the garden was named Rumyantsev Garden.

The landscaping cost 25,000 rubles. Entrance to the garden was charged. According to Nikolai Nikolaevich Kovrigin’s design, alleys were laid out and trees planted; also, a cast-iron fence was installed around the perimeter, cast at the San-Galli factory. It is considered one of the most beautiful fences in St. Petersburg. Its “oriental” curves and curls recall the trophies captured by Count Rumyantsev during the Russo-Turkish War. The finials on the garden gateposts resemble vases from the fence of the Tauride Palace. Old-timers recount that during the 1953 flood, people took refuge on the base of the Rumyantsev fence, from where they were rescued by military boats. Marble vases stood along the alleys on the Neva side, and a musical pavilion—a stage on a high granite pedestal—was built into the fence. Two fountains were planned for the center of the garden.

In 1870, Solovyov’s sister transferred the garden to the city, and since then the entrance fees went to the city treasury. Rumyantsev Garden was for a long time a meeting place for St. Petersburg’s intelligentsia. In particular, the poet Blok performed at literary evenings held in the garden.

In 1927, garden master Katzer simplified the layout of Rumyantsev Garden to open up the perspective toward the monument. In 1939, the garden was renamed Shevchenko Square (in 2001, the garden’s historical name was restored). In the 1950s, the fountains ceased to operate, and the musical pavilion was closed.

Two identical cast-iron fountains, cast from a model by sculptor Jensen, appeared in the garden in the 1870s. These structures resemble multi-tiered fruit vases. They are adorned with cupids, dolphins, garlands, and other “maskerks,” as Benvenuto Cellini called them. Along with the fountains, now-lost sculptures were installed in the garden (one of them depicting a boy holding a shell on his head) and a pair of marble vases (also no longer preserved). The fountains, which had not worked since pre-war times, have now been restored.

The musical pavilion—a graceful structure with shaped cast-iron columns and wrought-iron fencing, unlike a typical park stage—appeared in Solovyov Garden in the second half of the 19th century. For a long time, a brass band played here on Saturdays and Sundays. This tradition continued until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Before the war, the local chess club also flourished in the musical pavilion. In the 1960s, the rather dilapidated and neglected structure was frequented by students from the University, Academy of Arts, and Mining Institute for drinking wine. Once, on the back side of the pavilion, there was a well-known public restroom in the area. After a fire in the late 1990s, the pavilion was restored, erasing all memory of this modest public facility. Now, a new portable bio-toilet has appeared in the garden.

Mediocre bronze busts of two titans of Russian painting appeared here in 1999—thanks to the garden’s proximity to the Academy of Arts. The fact that Ilya Repin and Vasily Surikov ended up in the garden was a coincidence. They were chosen from storage for their similar size and style. It is fortunate that there were only two busts, not four or six. It would have been better to restore the two marble vases that once stood roughly in these places. Before that, the busts had been gathering dust separately for over forty years in the storerooms of the Museum of Urban Sculpture. The state supported members of the Union of Soviet Artists by commissioning various works of art, often without any practical purpose. The busts of Repin and Surikov are typical commissioned works “in two sizes.” Every Soviet sculptor dreamed of such prestigious, well-paid commissions, but they usually went to a narrow circle of the “most honored.” The bust of the celebrated creator of “Barge Haulers on the Volga” was made in Leningrad in the mid-1950s by the classic of socialist realism, Matvey Manizer.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Румянцевская_площадь

https://walkspb.ru/istoriya-peterburga/sad/rum-sad

https://steeper.fandom.com/ru/wiki/Румянцевский_сад

https://retro-piter.livejournal.com/555348.html