Summer Gardens

The Summer Gardens were originally just what they sound like--the summer gardens of Peter the Great where he lived every year from May through October until he died. He patterned them after European gardens (mostly Versailles), but he also grew vegetables there (well, his serfs did) to live off. This first picture shows me on a bridge over the Fontanka canal. The gardens are behind me.

The Summer Gardens are significant to us because in 1909 it was here that Elder Lyman dedicated the Russian land for the preaching of the gospel. Elder Lyman had previously dedicated Finland on July 24, 1909. He arrived in Saint Petersburg in August, but because they were still using the Julian calendar (Finland had switched to the Gregorian calendar) he dedicated Russia on July 24th too. The garden was beautiful, as you can see. It was filled with the soft greens of early spring. I could have walked on the crushed gravel paths and looked at the flowers all day. Elder Russell M. Nelson reblessed the land in the early 1990s. He did it near this statue of Camila, in honor of President Kimball's wife. I loved the weather worn statues and their small details. The garden is surrounded by a fence that has these Medusa heads on it.