Lomography

Petergof - The Russian Versailles
written by grad on April 11th, 2009 , 23 submissions , 5 comments (8 votes)

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“The Russian Versailles”, “the Capital of Russian Fountains”, Peterhof is an immensely luxurious royal estate, lying on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea), a combination of several palaces and parks, the “capital of Russian fountains” and “the Russian Versailles”. The estate was founded by Peter the Great and shortly after 1710 the Tzar had a beautiful park with several palaces built.

The Grand Cascade, which goes downhill from the palace towards the Baltic Sea, is one of the largest fountain ensembles in the world. From a channel goes through the park to the pier, where hydrofoils and boats from St. Petersburg arrive. Multiple fountains and pavilions (the Monplaizir Palace, Marly, the Hermitage- not to be confused with the Hermitage museum) are scattered all over the park. In a quiet part of the Alexandria Park there is the Cottage palace of Nicholas I, which unlike many other palaces has the royal living quarters carefully preserved.

Peterhof is original name of the estate and the town is Peterhof is the German for “Peter’s yard”, “Peter’s home”. Note, that between 1944 and the early 90s the town was called Petrodvorets, and some guide books might still list it under that name.