Peterhof. Grand Palace and Lower Garden

Overview

Overview
Meeting with tour guide at hotel lobby. Departure to Peterhof.

Peterhof is one of the most popular, beautiful and attractive places for tourists in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.
Peterhof was founded in 1710 as the emperor's country residence. It received the city status in 1762. The town is famous for a luxurious palace and a series of parks, gardens and fountains – hence the other Petershof’s names – “the Russian Versailles” and “the capital of Russian fountains”.
The Grand Peterhof Palace, majestic and elegant, with its facade stretching for almost 300 meters, occupies the dominant position of the Peterhof ensemble composition, connecting the Upper garden and the Lower park, in a single artistic entity.
The Palace represents a symmetrical baroque composition. However, during the reign of Peter the Great, the palace looked somewhat different from what is seen now. A small royal mansion was erected at the site in his time. Because of peculiarities of the terrace soil the mansion started to subside. Its reconstruction was carried out by the French architect Le Blond and after his death, by the Italian architect Niccolo Michetti. Works were halted after Peter’s death and the royal mansion was almost abandoned until Peter’s daughter Elizabeth acceded to the throne. The chief architect of the royal court Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli was the one who enlarged the Great Palace to its present size and remodeled it into a masterpiece of Baroque art.
In 1990, the architecture and park ensemble "Peterhof" was included in the world’s list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, and was recognized in 2008, as one of the seven wonders of Russia.