May 28 – Saint Petersburg, Russia. Today we are taking an optional tour to Peterhof. Quite a few people didn't sign up for this because we saw Catherine's Palace yesterday and they've heard it's nicer than Peterhof. Having been to both before I can tell you that they are different but the only thing Catherine's has more of is glitz. Peterhof reflects a man's sensibilities in that, while some rooms are just as over-the-top as Catherine's most are not. For example the Oak Study Room in Peterhof is entirely decorated in unpainted carved oak panels. It's a warmer feeling room than anything at Catherine's Palace. In fact, Peter liked this room so much that he had a small palace, Monplaisir, built on Peterhof's grounds as his private retreat. Almost the entire building is paneled in oak.
The Peterhof Complex is a series of palaces and over a square kilometer of gardens. Peter designed it himself and it is sometimes called the "Russian Versailles". Both the complex and the center of the city are a UNESCO World Heritage Sight.
In 1705 Peter the Great noticed that this would be a good place to construct a landing for use in travelling to and from the island fortress of Kronstadt. He was up there to wage the Great Northern War.
The main palace is atop a 50-foot high hill that's less than a football field length from the Gulf of Finland. Behind the Grand Palace on the hilltop are the upper gardens, not really very special. At the foot of the hill and extending to the water are the Lower Gardens and the majority of the fountains are in that area. The fountains of Peterhof are why you visit. Yes, the palace is nice and I certainly would have preferred to live here rather than Catherine's Palace, but the fountains are the masterpiece. And the best of them all is the Grand Cascade (Bolshoi Kaskad). It starts at the back portico of the Grand Palace and extends all the way to the Gulf of Finland, making it one of the largest fountains of the baroque period. It's styled on the fountain at Chateau de Marly that was built for Louis XIV.
The Grand Cascade is modelled on one constructed for Louis XIV at his Château de Marly.
At the center of the cascade is an artificial grotto covered with stone. It contains a modest museum of the fountains' history. There's a table there with a bowl of artificial fruit in the center. The table has hidden jets of water that will douse anyone who reaches out and tries to take some of the fruit. The grotto is connected to the palace above and behind by a hidden corridor.
The fountains of the Grand Cascade are located below the grotto and on either side of it. The water flows into a semicircular pool and then down the Se Channel and into the Bay of Finland. The large Samson Fountain was added to the pool in the 1730s placed in this pool. It shows Samson tearing open the jaws of a lion, representing Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War, and is the allegoric display has layers of meaning. A lion appears in the Swedes coat of arms and Russia won one of the decisive battles of the war on Saint Samson's Day. A 65 foot high jet of water blasts out of the lion's mouth. It's the highest stream of water at Peterhof.
None of the fountains at Peterhof use of pumps of any kind. The water comes from natural springs and is stored in the Upper Gardens. The difference in elevation creates the pressure that drives most of the fountains of the Lower Gardens, including the Grand Cascade. The water for the Samson Fountain comes down an aqueduct that over about 2.5 miles long and comes from an elevated source to produce enough pressure to create a 6 story tall column of water.
The Lower Gardens has many fountains that have an a great deal of creativity. One is named 'The Sun' and has a disk with water jets all around the edge that simulates the sun's rays. The disk rotates to that the sun is seen to revolve around an axis.
In addition to the table in the grotto museum there are three more lurking here in the Lower Garden to catch the unsuspecting tourist. Two look like gnarled trees. They are rigged with water jets that activate when someone approaches. The third looks like a round bench with an umbrella above it. This diabolical and inviting bit of shade drops a curtain of water from the rim of the umbrella when someone tries to sit on the bench.
The Grand Palace of Peterhof looks large when you look back up the hill from the Lower Garden. In fact it is quite narrow and not really large. It only has about 30 rooms. Here's where the decorated by a man part becomes clear.
The Chesma Hall has 12 large paintings of the Battle of Chesma, an important naval victory during the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774. They were painted between 1771 and 1773 by the German artist Jacob Philipp Hackert. His first renderings of the great battle scenes were criticized by witnesses because they did not realistically show exploding ships. Catherine the Great assisted rectified that shortcoming by blowing up a real frigate in the harbor of Livorno, Italy, for Hackert, who had never seen a naval battle first-hand.
The Picture Hall's walls are almost entirely covered by a series of 368 paintings, mostly of variously dressed women who appear to be different ages but the same model posed for most of them. Unlike the Portrait Hall at Catherine's Palace there is no separation by fabric or frame. The wall is actually covered by the paintings. They were purchased in 1764 from the widow of the Italian artist P. Rotari, who died in St. Petersburg. The widow had children and was destitute so the paintings were purchased from her by way of helping her out because they are not great works of art.
The fountains use a lot of water so they are only on for a few hours a day starting at 1PM. The Sea Channel running from the pool at the base of the cascade has little bridges over it wherever it intersects the gardens pathways. I went down to the first of these bridges to wait for the water to start. At a few seconds before 1PM music started to play and slowly but surely the elements of the fountain began to spout. The first thing to start is the jet of water from the lion's mouth. It starts small but continues to grow. Then slowly but surely the other fountains begin to flow. Along the Sea Channel there are large bowls with nozzles at the center that begin to flow in succession from the cascade to the sea. It's very impressive, almost like fireworks but without the color and noise.
The cascade itself is an striking design. On each end of the rear portico it has a series of 7 large steps that are white with green and gold decorations. In the center of the riser for each step is a green and gold relief with a scene I could not recognize. They appear to scenes from Biblical, Greek or Roman stories. Each of the stairs has two columns of water one located near each end of the stair. All this water cascades down the stairs into the pool around the Samson fountain. The grotto between the two stairways has five high columns of water at its center and an interlocking series of small arched sprays at it's front edge. At the base of each stairway there's a figure one a large rock and water is pouring out all around from under the figure like a waterfall. Various figures around the pool squirt water into it, humans, frogs, faces and mythical beings all add to the flow. In addition to the high spray from the lion the little island that Samson stands on has a series of large carp looking fish pointing outward around the perimeter. Water flows from the mouths of the fish. The little island looks a lot like a berserk fireboat. The whole thing is a sight to behold.
Another very nice and informative day.
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