The world-famous palace, fountain and park ensemble of Peterhof is an outstanding landmark of Russian artistic culture of the 18-19th centuries. Founded at the very beginning of the 18th century by Emperor Peter the Great not far from the new northern capital St. Petersburg, Peterhof was intended to become the most splendid official royal summer residence.
Credit for its creation should go to a great number of eminent architects, artists, and anonymous folk craftsmen. Its wonderful parks, 176 fountains of various forms and styles and four cascades, majestic palaces, numerous gilded statues of ancient gods and heroes, remarkable collections of sculpture, painting and works of the minor arts make Peterhof a veritable gem of art, often called "Capital of Fountains", unique in the world.
The foundation of Peterhof became a monument to the victory of Russia in war against Sweden. Located on the bank of the Gulf of Finland, it was supposed to prove that Russia was turning into navy state, able to protect itself. Immediately after Poltava battle Peter the Great ordered to lay out the parks of Peterhof. The construction of the palace, known as the Great palace, which is a gem of Peterhof, started in 1714. Peter the Great himself participated in the palace construction: the architects based their project on his drawings. Peter wanted to have a relatively modest palace. The building was carried out by Johann Braunstein. It proceeded with haste, and by 1716 the small building with its rather ordinary architecture was ready. Neither the appearance of the chambers, nor their dimensions were in keeping with the role of the building as the center of the splendid park ensemble, which had already been conceived by that time.
In 1721 architect Niccolo Michetti presented his design for extending the palace, approved by the tsar. But even the new palace, with stretched for 160 meters along the edge of the terrace, did not solve the problem of where to accommodate the growing court. In 1747 with the blessing of empress Elizabeth, architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli embarked upon a radical rebuilding of the palace. All that remained of the former building was the central section put up in Peter's time. The new palace was built with unprecedented speed. By 1755 the decor was practically complete. The size and sumptuousness of the rooms, the remarkable skill of the architect and craftsman astounded contemporaries.
Rastrelli retained the existing division of the palace into a central section with galleries and side buildings. But he added galleries that ran south in the direction of the Upper Gardens. He did away with the small pavilions at the east and the west ends of the palace, replacing them by a "building under arms" at the west end and "a church building" at the east end.
The palace interiors were in keeping with its external appearance. Its spacious and airy rooms were adorned with rich moldings, splendid parquet flooring, exquisite carving, painted ceilings and canvases by great masters. In subsequent decades many famous architects with different architectural styles enriched the exterior and interiors of the Great palace. So alongside the rooms dating back to the Petrine period there were the splendid halls that appeared in the mid-18th century and then the dignified, austere halls of the classical period that were later replaced by the interiors of the mid-19th century reflecting a revival of the main artistic principles of Rococo.
Over the two centuries of its existence the Great palace has become a kind of treasure-store of outstanding works of art, furniture, bronze, china, glass and everyday objects.
During the World War II the Nazi set fire to the Great palace on the very first day of their occupation of Peterhof. The fire destroyed not only the world-famous gem of architecture, but also many works of art. Everything that survived the fire was either destroyed or looted. Not content with this, they blew up the north wall of the most valuable, Petrine section of the palace. When Peterhof was liberated, all that remained of the Great palace were charred ruins. The destruction was so great that many people considered it quite out of question to even think of trying to restore the palace. The initial conservation work and measurements began almost as soon as the invaders were driven out. Highly complex though it was, the restoration of the interiors and exterior of the Great palace was done. The outstanding experts and masters carefully restored the palace step by step. Today the Great palace museum numbers more than twenty rooms and its collection of exhibits is in no way inferior to the pre-war one. The structural center of the Upper Gardens and the Lower Park, the palace stands on the edge of a sixteen-meter high terrace, adorned with gold statues, the crystal jets of the Great Cascade and the terrace fountains. The gleaming gold, the exquisite architecture and the splashing of the fountains create the most impressive sight.