Sightseeing

PETERHOF The Palace and Park ensemble of Peterhof (in the second half of the 20th century known also as Petrodvorets - "Peter's Palace") created in the 18th and 19th centuries ranks among the world’s finest specimens of landscape architecture. A jewel of the Russian art, a town of splendid parks, majestic palaces, and beautiful fountains is situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, twenty-nine kilometers outside St Petersburg. The history of its foundation dates back to the early 18th century, when Peter the Great noted this site while traveling by boat from Kronstadt to St Petersburg, and considered it to be an ideal place for his suburban shelter. Originally Peterhof was not meant to be a magnificent residence surrounded by extensive gardens with marvelous sculptural decorations and fountains: in 1710 a small wooden palace appeared here, and in 1714 the construction of Marine Canal, the grotto and the cascade began. Peter the Great decided to make use of the natural features of the terrain and to lay out the Lower Park (originally called the Lower Gardens) and the Upper Gardens, and to link the Palace, the Cascade, and the Canal into an organic whole in the centre of the ensemble. Later on neither the appearance of the palace not its dimensions could solve the problem of accommodating the growing court, besides the modest building contrasted sharply the splendid park ensemble which had already been conceived by hat time. And in 1750s with the blessing of Peter’s daughter, the Empress Elizabeth, the renowned architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli embarked upon a radical reconstruction of the palace. Eager to make true to her father’s dream of a resplendent official residence of the lord of the Baltic, Elizabeth also wanted a building epitomizing the brilliance and ambition of her reign. Rastrelli fulfilled the task completely, and the new stunning Palace became worthy of its role not only as the structural centre of the splendid park ensemble but also as one the greatest summer palaces of Western Europe. The new palace was built with unprecedented speed. By 1752 the construction and interior decoration was practically finished, and on 11 June Elizabeth left St.Petersburg with a festive procession to a salute from the Peter-and-Paul’s Fortress for her new country retreat. The new edifice stretched 300 meters along the elevated bank. Rastrelli retained the existing division of the palace into a central section (all that remained of the former building) with galleries and side buildings. Massive 3-storey wings to either side contrasted long and graceful one-storey galleries left and right, finishing with towering squares – a church of 5 cupolas and a pavilion topped by a gilded two-headed eagle. The palace interiors were in keeping with its external appearance. Its spacious and airy rooms were adorned with rich moldings, splendid parquet flooring, exquisite carving, painted ceilings and canvases by great masters. Later on many famous architects with different architectural styles enriched the exterior and interiors of the Great Palace. A broad fountain-lined canal links the palace with the sea, flowing into a semi-circular pond centered by a gilded statue of Samson tearing a lion’s maw, out of which spurts a powerful fountain. The statue was erected on Catherine’s I order to symbolize her husband’s Northern War victories – Sweden has a lion in its coat of arms. A mysterious looking grotto creates an impressive background for the statue. But the Samson statue is not the only must-see in Peterhof by any stretch of imagination. The Upper Garden to its south, has another sculptural fountain with Neptune in a chariot; the compositional pivot of the Lower Park's eastern side is the Monplaisir Palace, where Peter the Great arranged his first picture gallery, largely made up of marines by Flemish and Dutch painter; in the western part of the park, there is the small Hermitage Palace, which was erected in 1722-1725 to the design of by Johann Braunstein, who also supervised the construction of the Marly Palace in the vicinity of the rectangular pond in the western part of the Lower Park; the eastern part of the Alexandria Park features the Cottage Palace put up in 1826-29 by Adam Menelaws for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I.

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