The Alexander Garden is a vast green area located along the western wall of the Kremlin, bordered by Bolshaya Nikitskaya, Vozdvizhenka, and Znamenka streets. Today it is called a garden, but until the 1970s-80s, it consisted of three separate gardens: Upper, Middle, and Lower. They were created in 1823 by architect Osip Bove on the site of the floodplain of the Neglinnaya River at the behest of Emperor Alexander I. Initially, the gardens were called Kremlin Gardens, and after the coronation of Alexander II in 1856, they were named Alexander Gardens.

In the 1820s-30s, these gardens were a popular walking place for Muscovites. In 1872, the Polytechnic Exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Peter I's birth was held here, which was a great success.

The entrance to the Upper Garden from the side of the Historical Museum is adorned with a magnificent fence with two gates, designed by E. Pascal and cast from iron at the Chesmensky factory by A.V. Nemchinov. The fence posts are decorated in the form of bundles of twigs and gilded hatchets, symbolizing strength and unity. The grille is a monument to the glory of Russian arms in the fight against Napoleon.

To the left of the entrance by the Kremlin wall is a memorial, the grave of the Unknown Soldier who died near Moscow in 1941. The monument was opened on May 8, 1967, and the Eternal Flame of Glory was lit at that time. The words are inscribed on black granite: “Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal.”

Further along the wall are monumental blocks of red porphyry, each dedicated to a hero city of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The authors of the memorial are architects D.I. Burdin, V.A. Klimov, and sculptor N.V. Tomsky.

In the Upper Garden, you can also see an obelisk made of gray granite. Until 2013, there was an obelisk erected in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, which was transformed in 1918 into a monument “to the thinkers and figures of the struggle for the liberation of the working class.” Now it is a new monument, made in the style of the original, built for the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.

By the Kremlin wall, there is a grotto built in the early 19th century based on a design by O. Bove. In the 1990s, a shopping complex “Okhotny Ryad” was built along the right side of the Alexander Garden, next to which appeared an imitation of the Neglinnaya River and sculptures “Heroes of Russian Fairy Tales” by Zurab Tsereteli.

The boundary between the Upper and Middle Gardens is the Trinity Bridge, connecting the Trinity and Kutafya towers of the Kremlin. Until 1819, this was a bridge over the Neglinnaya River. There was a mill located on the side of the Upper Garden. In the mid-16th century, the Middle Garden was a Pharmacy Garden, where, by the order of Ivan the Terrible, fruit trees and medicinal herbs were grown. The Pharmacy Garden existed until 1706, after which it was moved to 1st Meshchanskaya Street by order of Peter I, who reinforced the Kremlin walls with bastions. Remnants of the Borovitsky bastion can be seen near the Borovitskaya Tower.

After the creation of the Alexander Gardens, when the river was buried underground, ramps decorated with sculptures and flower pots led to the Trinity Bridge from the side of the Upper Garden. You could descend to the Middle Garden via cast-iron stairs. A kitchen for a restaurant was arranged in the arch, but all this was lost during the reconstruction of the bridge in 1901.

The Lower Garden, a small area from the Borovitsky Gate to the Embankment, is now separated by a roadway and has almost disappeared. Until 1707, there was a Swan Pond here, where swans were raised for the tsar's table. The pond was drained during the construction of the bastions. Currently, the Lower Garden is closed to visitors.