As the boundaries of the city expanded, estates began to appear here, and their owners were very wealthy people. Peter I, the founder of the city, also contributed to the development of this territory by issuing a decree on the beginning of construction of the famous [Summer Garden] (http://kudago.com/spb/place/letniy-sad/), which later became one of the main symbols of St. Petersburg. Interestingly, the Fontanka River owes its name to [the Summer Palace] (http://kudago.com/spb/place/letnij-dvorec-petra-1/), or rather to its fountains.

The territory on both banks of the seven-kilometer Fontanka River was mapped at the end of the 18th century. Mansions of the city nobility began to be built along the pavement, by that time “dressed” in a dense layer of granite. General and cartographer Bauer, prosecutor Neklyudov, architect Starov and other cream of the then society settled in the rooms overlooking the Fontanka River. On the site of the old wooden bridges, stone bridges appeared: Egyptian, [Anichkov] (http://kudago.com/spb/place/anichkov-most/), Lomonosov Bridge, which became a real decoration of the embankment.

Walking along the Fontanka River, you can see many architectural monuments, silent witnesses of a bygone era, including the Sheremetev Palace [(Fountain House)] ( https://kudago.com/spb/place/peterburg-ahmatovoj-fontannyj-dom/), Naryshkin Palace, building of the former Catherine Institute, [Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace] ( http://kudago.com/spb/place/dvorec-beloselskih-belozerskih/), the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Eliseev's apartment house. House No. 20 once lived the family of Decembrist Nikolai Turgenev, whom Alexander Pushkin often visited, and poetess Anna Akhmatova lived in house No. 6 at the beginning of the 20th century.