Page 32 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - St. Petersburg

30 ❯❯ Top 10 St Petersburg Highlights

Peterhof

An extravagant collection of palaces, fountains and gardens,
Peterhof lies on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Having originally
come across the site in 1705, Peter the Great commissioned the
building of a palace here in 1714. He intended the estate to rival
that of Versailles in France. The Great Palace (1714–21), originally
designed by Jean Baptiste Le Blond, was transformed during the
reign of Elizabeth by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, architect of the Winter
Palace (see p14), who added its distinctive Baroque element.

The Imperial
The Grand
The Main
1 3 5
Cascade
Staircase
Suite
Comprising 37 gilded Located in the palace’s With its allegorical
bronze sculptures, 64 east wing, the suite sculp ture of Elizabeth
fountains and 142 water con tains Peter’s Oak in the guise of Spring,
jets, the Grand Cascade Study – a rare example Rastrelli’s cre ation
(above) descends from of Le Blond’s original (below) is a stately sight.
the terraces of the Great design. The oak panels
Palace, through the date from 1716–21.
estate, and finally out
Cottage Palace
into the gulf. 4
More imposing
The Throne
2 than its name suggests,
Room
this Neo-Gothic house
This opulent room, (1826–9), set in the
initially created in gar dens of Alexandria
Baroque style in 1753 Park, was built for
and redesigned by Yuriy Nicholas I and his wife,
Velten in 1770, contains who had bour geois
portraits of Russia’s tastes and wanted a
imperial family. domestic environment.
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