Peterhof
Peterhof is a city on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland, about 30 km west of St. Petersburg. It was founded in 1710 as a summer imperator’s residence. A stunning palace and garden (Petrodvorets) are located here. In this review we will make a trip to the grotto of the Grand Cascade and the Samson Fountain, the largest triumphal monument of the first quarter of the 18th century. Then we will have a tour in its grotto that has enormous pipes and reach the Lower fountain park to find out the key secret of Peterhof Joke Fountains. Not only Peterhof is the Palace Park, but also a home town to 73,000 people. The name Peterhof stands for the German Peter’s Court.
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3. Fountains are switched-off.
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5. Peter first made the decision to erect the residence, a triumphal monument, in honour of the victory in the Great Northern War which took place in 1700 to 1721.
6. triumph is in the design of all the fountains, but most of all it is in the central one, named Samson wrestling the jaws of a lion.
7. It was constructed in 1735 in honour of the 25 anniversary of the Poltava battle. The lion was chosen on purpose. Being a part of the Switzerland coat of arms it symbolizes the defeat. The fountain is the highest in Peterhof.
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9. The Samson fountain uses 70 litres of water a second. Do the fountains operate with pumps? No! The answer is in the grotto.
10. The fountain's constructors faced a water problem. Pumps were very expensive. For that reason Peter first came up with an idea of supplying water by a gravity-led system.
11. The idea was used in the water-supply system of the fountains. A twenty-four kilometers long channel was built. It connects the lakes of Peterhof and its fountains.
12. The maintenance of the hydrotechnical system is done by a team of twenty-four professionals in the summer and 10 specialists in the winter. Peterhof's fountains are operated manually since the 18th century. Those tubes are have being used since the 19th century.
13. The bright coloring of the tubes helped 10 years old boys who worked here in the 18th century to recognize each one. For example the green tube brings water to the western fountains, the blue one to the Basket Fountain, the red one to the Samson fountain.
14. The heart of the Grand Cascade is the Lower Grotte with cascades made of the Pudist limestone. Its largest monument represents Faunus, the god of the forest and fields. In the center of the hall there is a dining table served with delicious meals, and when Peter's guests were about to get some fruits...
15. ...the Joke Fountain suddenly turned on! Its water streams rose up to two meters. This was the way Peter the Great made jokes on his guests. All of them were wet after visiting the Grotte.
16. There were no move sensors in the 18th century, and the greatest secret of those Joke Fountains is easy as a pie. They have being operating manually for almost four centuries. A guardian of the park turns them on now a days.
17. Some more pictures of the Lower waterfalls' area.
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20. The Basket Fountain.
21. Some pictures of the park.
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26. A pretty abandoned waterfall.
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30. A tip for tourists. The easiest way to get to Peterhof is to use the Meteor boats. The author of the review used Astra-Martin boats, and the trip took about half an hour.
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