!!!Peterhof, St. Petersburg

Photo by Stanislav Sedov and Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

25 October 2013

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Nowadays Peterhof is a world-famous complex consisting of various
palaces and gardens, and it's considered to be one of the most important
sights in St. Petersburg and Russia. Before the 18th century its
territory was occupied by only a few Finnish villages. It wasn't until
year 1705 that the word "Peterhof" appeared in the first travel journal
of Peter the Great (Peterhof is Dutch for "Peter's yard"). The tsar saw
this area as a good place to construct a landing for travelling to and
from Kotlin island.

By 1714 Peter the Great had the idea to build a luxurious country
residence, as luxurious as French Versailles. The complex of magnificent
buildings was meant to glorify the power of Russia, and its recent
victory over Sweden for an outlet to the Baltic Sea.

[{Image src='01_The Samson fountain.jpg' caption='The «Samson» fountain' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='900'}]

To turn this idea into reality the construction was started in the
nearby village of Strelna, but later it turned out that the terrain in
Peterhof would allow to build higher fountains due to its numerous
underground springs, so construction was moved there. The best
architects of Europe were invited to participate in the construction
process. However, old drawings made by the tsar, his decrees, and notes
on the documents suggest that the general concept design of entire
complex, and, sometimes, design of individual architectural elements and
fountains belonged to Peter the Great himself. The grand opening of the
residence took place in 1723: by that time they planned out the Lower
Gardens, dug the Sea Channel and launched some fountains; they also
placed statues, vases, and busts on cascades, terraces, and alleys. Even
then the beauty of "Peter's yard" astonished visitors, but a new round
of construction started by the Empress Anna Ivanovna, successor of Peter
the Great, that made Peterhof one of the largest
palace-park ensembles in the world.

[{Image src='02_Above the Grand Cascade.jpg' caption='Above the Grand Cascade' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='505'}]

Modern Peterhof includes several palaces and park complexes that were
under construction for almost two centuries. The Lower Gardens, Upper
Gardens, and English Park were built in the 18th century; the Alexandria
Park, Kolonistsky Park, Meadow Park, Alexander Park, Sergievka Park, and
Lower Dacha were built in the 19th century. Peterhof is often compared
to Versailles (the tsar's project was realized as intended), but many
critics believe that it's a wrong comparison. European palaces and parks
are more continental, whereas Peterhof was born from the romance of sea
and it perfectly blends into surrounding picturesque waters.

One of the most famous landmarks of Peterhof is Samson Fountain, the
central fountain with 21 meter high water jets. According to the
original plan, there was supposed to be a statue of Hercules defeating
the Hydra of Lerna in the center of the Grand Cascade fountains, but it
was replaced by a statue of Samson tearing the lion's mouth.

[{Image src='03_The Grand Peterhof Palace and the Grand Cascade.jpg' caption='The Grand Peterhof Palace and the Grand Cascade' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='890'}]

A fountain monument was erected in 1735 to commemorate the 25th
anniversary of the historic victory of the Russian army over the Swedes
at the Battle of Poltava on June 27th, 1709 (the day of St. Sampson the
Hospitable). It explains why Hercules was replaced by Samson: the lion
is associated with Sweden, because it's depicted on the arms of Sweden.

The fountain was badly damaged during the World War II, and the original
statue was lost. The Samson that we can see now in Peterhof is a copy
that was carefully re-designed using archival drawings and photographs.

[{Image src='04_Upper Gardens.jpg' caption='Upper Gardens' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='542'}]

There were other Peterhof sights that were damaged during the war: the
Upper Gardens, the Lower Gardens and fountain water pipeline system. The
restoration work started in 1944 continues to this day. But it's hard to
notice: the complex of palaces and gardens has been restored almost
completely, which you can see for yourself through our panoramas.

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[16 Panoramas of Peterhof_St_Petersburg|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Peterhof]

[{SET customtitle='Peterhof, St. Petersburg (AP)'}]

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