Laid out from 1872 to 1874, these pleasant gardens, named after Alexander II, wrap around the Admiralty and are mentioned in Pushkin's famous verse novel Eugene Onegin as a fashionable place for a stroll. They remain so, dotted with statues of Glinka, Lermontov, Gogol and other cultural figures, as well as a fountain that dates to 1879. Opposite St Isaac's there's a very good children's playground within the garden.
