The garden is situated in the very center of St.Petersburg nearby its landmarks: the Winter palace, the Admiralty, St.Isaac's Cathedral and the Bronze Horseman monument. It is named after the emperor Alexander II famous for the abolition of serfdom in Russia, who ruled the country in the days when the garden was opened to pg_ The territory would once be occupied by fortifications defending the Admiralty, years after that the Admiralty meadow was set up to be later on divided into three squares: Admiralteyskaya, Isaakiyevskaya and Senatskaya. In 1874 the Alexander garden was opened with more than 5 thousand trees, more than 12,5 thousand bushes of 52 kinds having been planted. The landmarks that call the public attention are, firstly, the Bronze Horseman – the monument to Peter the Great, secondly, a part of the rail tracks of the first line of the tramway launched in St.Petersburg, marked by a memorial stone, and thirdly, by a great fountain surrounded by the statues of Russian poets and composers. 

During the Siege of Leningrad none of the trees were felled to make logs for the fire.

During the rule of the empress Anna Ioannovna in the 18th century the Admiralty meadow was the place to host public feasts accompanied with bonfires, fountains of wine and «amusement palaces» made of ice being constructed.

There is a camel somewhere in the park.