Vyborg side - the historical part of St. Petersburg, which got its name from the old highway leading to Vyborg. It was here that one of the first medical institutions of the city arose in its initial period - land and sea hospitals, on the site of which the Military Medical Academy is now located. And further from the Neva, near the place where the Vyborgskaya station is now located, they built the Sampson Church. It was from her that the history of the place where the Sampson Garden is now organized began.
St. Petersburg, Church of St. Sampson
Back in 1709, in honor of the victory near Poltava, a wooden church was erected on the right bank of the Neva. In 1710, it was consecrated in the name of Saint Sampson, the patron saint of wanderers, the sick and the poor. Nearby were opened two hospitals - sea and land. Their patients needed the protection and help of Saint Sampson.
The first St. Petersburg cemetery was organized near the temple, where the famous builders of the "original" St. Petersburg were buried: Domenico Trezzini, Andreas Schluter, Jean Baptiste Leblon, and alsofamous sculptor Carl Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Unfortunately, this cemetery has not survived to this day. Next to the heterodox one there was also an Orthodox cemetery founded at the same time. It also did not survive. It is believed that the destruction of the graves was initiated by Catherine II herself.
The stone temple was founded on the site of a wooden church in 1728, possibly according to the project of D. Trezzini. Subsequently, the Sampson Church was repeatedly rebuilt. Its author is called Pietro Trezzini. On the facade of the bell tower of the Sampson Church there is a memorial plaque with the text of the speech of Emperor Peter Alekseevich before the Battle of Poltava. In addition, after the construction of the temple, particles of the relics of St. Sampson were transferred to it from the wooden church.
Near the fence overlooking Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Prospekt, there is a unique grave. The tombstone says that the remains of those accused of conspiracy, executed on the orders of Empress Anna Ioannovna, are buried there: Minister Artemy Petrovich Volynsky, architect Pyotr Mikhailovich Eropkin and one of Volynsky Khrushchev's secretaries.
Toponymy of the area around Sampson Gardens
The area around Samsonievskiy Garden is limited by Bolshoy Sampsonievsky and Lesnoy avenues, Grenadierskaya street and Neishlotsky lane.
Lesnoy Prospekt has had its name since 1913 after the name of the Land Survey (later - Forest) Institute, which it passed by. Therefore, the part of the highway that was previously adjacent to the institute was called Mezheva Street, which later merged with anotherpart of the avenue - Nystadtskaya (in the city of Nystadt, where the Nystadt peace treaty with the Swedes was signed in 1721) street, forming a single avenue. According to the same principle, Neishlotsky Lane is also named.
Bolshoi Sampsonevsky Prospekt - the street that runs from the Neva to Sampson Cathedral and got its name from it.
Grenadier Street runs through lands formerly owned by the Grenadier Regiment, hence the name.
History of Sampson Gardens
The garden was founded in 1927 on the site of one of the disappeared cemeteries and named after the ideologist of the Marxist theory, Karl Marx. This name was retained outside the square until 1991, after which the site was renamed Sampsonevsky after the temple located nearby.
In memory of the lost graves in the garden in 1995, a monument to the "first builders of St. Petersburg" was erected according to the project of Mikhail Shemyakin.
Made of granite, it resembles the entrance portal to a Gothic temple. The names of the architects to whom it is dedicated are engraved on its plates - A. Schlueter, D. Trezzini, J. B. Leblon, B. C. Rastrelli and F. B. Rastrelli.
The world of wildlife presented in the garden and being its true decoration is interesting: false sycamore maple from the forests of the Caucasus, red oak from North America. Of the birds here, you can meet not only sparrows, but also waxwings.
Due to the appearance of Grenadier Street in the 1970s, the size of the garden has been significantly reduced.
Reminding ofpast
Sampsonievskiy Garden in the summer of 2017 became a place where panoramas of historical events unfolded, three at once: the Battle of Poltava, the Battle of the Neva and the June offensive of 1917 in the First World War.
The Battle of Poltava was represented by a reconstruction of one of the fragments of the event - the Battle of Lesnoy, which is very symbolic, if you remember that one of the highways next to the garden is Lesnoy Prospekt. In addition to the reconstructions of these battles, playgrounds were arranged where residents could practice martial arts - throwing knives, axes, archery and crossbow shooting, or go to the shooting gallery. Models of military artillery weapons were also presented in the garden.
The historical festival in Sampsonievskiy Garden "For Russia and Russian Piety" was timed to coincide with the Day of Military Glory. It has been held for the third year in a row.
How to get to Sampsonievsky garden in St. Petersburg?
The easiest and most reliable way is by metro to the Vyborgskaya station.
You can also get there by land transport. If you go from the area of the metro station "Akademicheskaya", "Grazhdansky Prospekt" and from Prosveshcheniya Prospekt - bus number 60.
Bus 86 and tram 20 also go here.
