There are 168 city gardens with a total area of over 700 ha and 35 parks covering 2100 ha in Petersburg. The Letny and the Mikhailovsky Gardens are favored by all inhabitants of the city, as well as the Tavrichesky Garden, the Central Park of Culture and Rest on Elagin Island, and two Victory Parks (the Moscow one and the Primorsky one). There are also 34 parks in the suburbs of Petersburg: the most famous are in Tzarskoye Selo, Pavlovsk, Lomonosov and Gatchina. The remaining architectural memorials are not only in the suburbs, but also within the city (for example in the Shuvalovsky Park on Elagin Island). Unique examples of art, old alleyways, ponds and natural woods with both old and newly planted trees - all these make the oldest Petersburg parks and memorial gardens a landscape art form in their own right.
Great efforts were put into laying out the Letny Garden. Trees, flowers and bushes were brought from all over Russia and from abroad to be planted here: cedars from Solikamsk, apple trees from Sweden, white lilies from Narva. Architect Domenico Trezini, who created the Petropavlovsky Cathedral, also built the Palace of Peter the Creat in the Letny Garden. It is more like a small house than a palace; still, it is refined in a royal way.
It was here where Jan Roozen, the master of the garden art, worked for 30 years until his death in the same year as Peter.
In 1874 the famous fence of the Letny Garden was erected along the Neva side. Designed by Felten, it became one of the characteristic sights of Petersburg and embodied the features of the special Petersburg style. “At one time the English were coming to Petersburg just to see this fence," writes Pylyaev.
Up to the 1830s and 1840’s, when the garden was the Tzars residence, it was only the court nobility who were allowed here even on holidays. Later it lost this privilege and became a garden for walking, but only for the highest society. For a long time the garden was elitist. In 1752, the Senate issued an order allowing ordinary citizens to walk in the garden, but they “were under the obligation to wear decent clothing”. This requirement existed until the 1920’s, as well as the prohibition against workers, soldiers and sailors visiting the garden.
Despite all the restrictions, the Letny Garden was favoured by sports lovers of the last century. Running competitions were held in this elitist tzarist (although no longer the tzar’s residence) garden.