3. - Schlösser-Magazin

3. Peterhof
70
3. Justification for Inscription
Palace
Basic Facts
Location: Russia, federal district of
Northwestern Russia, Rajon Petrodworez, city
of Peterhof (part of St. Petersburg)
Historical outline: originally a farm where
Tsar Peter the Great spent the night while
traveling from St. Petersburg to the fortress of
Kronstadt; 1705 purchase of the estate; 1714
building work on the Sea Channel, the grotto
and the Grand Cascade in progress, work
started on Monplaisir by Andreas Schlüter;
1716 construction of a wooden palace by
the architect Johann Braunstein from plans
by Jean Baptiste Le Blond; 1720 Marly built
on the western border of the Lower Garden;
1721 extension of the palace by Niccolo
Michetti; 1721-25 building of Hermitage;
1725 building of orangery; 1734 conversion
of the Upper Garden from a vegetable garden
into a Baroque parterre; 1736 installation of
“water pranks”; 1738 construction of Roman
Fountains; 1739 Dragon Hill completed; 1745
enlargement of the palace under Tsarina
Elizabeth by Francesco Rastrelli; from 1747
construction of a new palace; 1769 decree
”On the Prevention of the Pruning of Trees in
the Upper and Lower Gardens of Peterhof”;
1779 laying out of an English garden with
an English palace by Giacomo Quarenghi,
situated next to the Upper Garden; 1784
extension of “water pranks”; 1799 installation
of the 17th-century statue of Neptune
in the Upper Garden, all lead sculptures
replaced by bronze copies until 1806; 1802
further extension of “water pranks”; 1803
construction of Woronichin Colonnade; 1825
work started by Adam Menelaws on the 290-
acre Alexandra Park containing an English
Cottage, situated next to the palace of Marly
in the east; 1830-34 construction of a Gothic
chapel in the Alexandra Park from plans by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel; 1854-57 construction
of Lions’ Cascade; 1895 construction of a
summer house for Tsarina Alexandra in the
Alexandra Park; from 1917 used as a museum;
1941-44 heavily damaged; 1947 reconstruction
of the Cascade; 1951 restoration work starts
on the great palace; 1966 reconstruction of
the Woronichin Colonnade. UNESCO World
Heritage site since 1990.
Characteristics: The estate’s location on the
Baltic Sea becomes a dominant motif of the
Lower Garden, laid out in 1714; the Cascade,
the Sea Channel and the palace of Monplaisir
directly on the shore all emphasize this.
Architects from several European countries
were commissioned to work on the generous
garden extensions and new buildings. Apart
from those destroyed during WWII all garden
areas commissioned by the Tsars have been
preserved in their original appearance.
Topical Comparison
Summer residence: Summer residence of
the Tsars of Russia until 1914, although the
imperial family used only the last building
to be completed, the summer house. There
has been no attempt to connect the summer
residence with a city.
Synthesis of gardening styles: The Baroque
garden was to be converted into an English
landscape garden after 1769, but only a part
of this redesign was put into practice around
1779, and after the death of Tsarina Katharina
in 1796 the work was discontinued. Further
landscape gardens were added to the east of
the Baroque garden; the Baroque parterres
were retained and enlivened by new water
features.
Furnishing: All buildings were destroyed in
the course of WWII, only the outer walls
remaining. Bronze sculptures were buried
during the war and re-installed later; all
buildings have been reconstructed. Today
more than 150 fountains are functional.