Top 10 Gardens in Russia
Russian imperial gardens are among the most ambitious in Europe. Peter the Great and his successors imported French and English designers wholesale, creating Petersburg-area parks that rival Versailles in scale while introducing northern hardy plantings and Russian Orthodox architectural set-pieces.
1. Peterhof, near St Petersburg
The Russian Versailles, begun by Peter the Great in 1710. The Grand Cascade with its 64 fountains and 200 gilt statues descends from the palace to a sea canal that leads to the Gulf of Finland. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. Catherine Park, Tsarskoye Selo
Around the Catherine Palace, designed by Rastrelli for Empress Elizabeth and extended for Catherine the Great. The combination of formal French garden, English landscape park, and exotic pavilions makes it the most encyclopaedic of the Petersburg parks.
3. Pavlovsk Park, near St Petersburg
Conceived as the country estate of Tsar Paul I and his wife Maria Feodorovna, with 600 hectares of English landscape designed by Charles Cameron and Pietro Gonzaga. One of the largest landscape parks in the world.
4. Summer Garden, St Petersburg
Peter the Great's first ornamental garden, laid out from 1704 on the Neva embankment. The restored marble sculptures, the formal parterres and the porphyry vase given by Karl XIV of Sweden are the highlights.
5. Kuskovo, Moscow
The eighteenth-century summer estate of the Sheremetev family, with formal French parterres, an Italian House, a Dutch House, a Grotto and an open-air theatre. One of the few Moscow parks to preserve its baroque plan.
6. Arkhangelskoye, near Moscow
An eighteenth-century neoclassical estate with terraced formal gardens descending to the Moskva River. Sometimes called the Russian Versailles, with a sculpture collection of more than two hundred pieces.
7. Kolomenskoye, Moscow
The tsar's wooden summer palace and surrounding apple orchards on a high bank of the Moskva. The medieval Church of the Ascension (1532) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site within the park.
8. Tsaritsyno, Moscow
A late eighteenth-century neo-Gothic ensemble commissioned by Catherine the Great from Vasily Bazhenov. The park around the palace was redeveloped in 2007 with fountains, terraces and restored ponds.
9. Gatchina Park, near St Petersburg
Around the palace of Paul I, with a chain of lakes, the Birch House, the Eagle Pavilion and a network of forest rides. The most romantically melancholic of the imperial parks.
10. Aptekarsky Ogorod, Moscow
The Apothecary Garden, founded by Peter the Great in 1706, is Russia's oldest botanic garden. The recently restored Victorian glasshouses and the herbaceous borders make this a serene Moscow refuge.
Plan your next trip
All of the gardens mentioned in this article are pinned on the interactive map. Use it to plan a route, group nearby sites into a single trip, or compare gardens by style and season.