Great Peterhof Palace

The Great Peterhof Palace is the largest architectural structure of the Peterhof ensemble.

This is an elegant three-story building with galleries, with sparkling gilded domes of the Church building and the Building under the coat of arms, built in the Russian Baroque style. It occupies a dominant position in the ceremonial ensemble of Peterhof. The palace is located on the edge of a natural terrace at an altitude of 16 meters. Its facade stretches along the terrace for almost 300 meters. On both sides of the palace there are two wide staircases leading to the Lower Park. Below are colorful flower arrangements and flower beds. The space between the staircases is filled with a grandiose ensemble of fountains and gilded sculptures of Greek gods and symbols. This is the famous Grand Cascade with grottoes and waterfall stairs. An indelible impression is made by the glitter of gold and the play of water from the fountains of the Grand Cascade against the backdrop of the magnificent palace. The appearance of the Grand Palace reflected all stages of the history of its construction.

Initially it was a rather modest royal palace, built in the “Petrine Baroque” style. The Oak Cabinet of the first Russian Emperor with oak wall carved panels and a number of original items from the 1720s has been preserved from the Peter the Great period: mirrors, an inkwell, a chandelier, a marching clock, and an English sphere-globe. The furniture of the office - cabinet, chairs and armchairs - is typical of the first third of the 18th century. Several elements of decoration in the Central Hall have been preserved. First of all, this is the Oak Staircase. During the reign of Peter I’s daughter Elizabeth Petrovna, the palace was rebuilt in the “mature Baroque” style by the unsurpassed master of the Baroque style, the famous architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

He created the northern front enfilade, called the Golden. The main staircase and the Dance Hall, which occupied the entire western wing of the palace, were decorated with gilded carvings. The interiors created by the genius of Rastrelli are characterized by an abundance of gilded wooden carvings, inlaid parquet floors made of different types of valuable wood, many mirrors and picturesque lampshades on the ceilings. There is a legend that Elizaveta Petrovna specifically asked Rastrelli to come to her in order to clean the hall more richly: “to gild it as much as possible...”. The fact is that this hall was intended to receive eminent merchants who, according to the empress, loved gold. 30 halls, richly decorated, plastered in marble, with painted ceilings, inlaid parquet and gilded walls, dazzle with luxury and are the artistic embodiment of the idea of ​​power and might. In the second half of the 18th century, classicism replaced baroque.

And the interiors of the Grand Palace began to change again. This was the period of the reign of Catherine II. By her order, the Chesme Hall was remodeled, which became a monument to Russian naval glory. The hall was decorated with twelve paintings on the theme of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, commissioned by the empress by the famous European painter F. Hackert. The interiors of the Throne Room and Chinese Cabinets have changed. The most important element of the decor of the Throne Room is also painting. These are portraits of Peter I, Catherine I, Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna and relatives of Peter I. Thus, the result of the two-hundred-year construction of the Great Peterhof Palace was the juxtaposition of brilliant Baroque halls with solemnly austere apartments of the Classical period, which give way to chambers in the Rococo style of the mid-19th century. Currently, the Grand Palace is a unique historical and art museum, the collection of which includes about three and a half thousand exhibits. These are items of first-class antique furniture, paintings, fabrics, lighting fixtures, artistic items made of porcelain, bronze, glass and crystal, which suited the tastes of the crowned owners of the Palace. Both in past centuries and now, guests of Peterhof never cease to admire the splendor of the interiors of the Grand Palace.