Peterhof was quite interesting. Hof in Russian means garden, and the palace which is considered to be the Russian Versailles, is definitely surrounded by gardens. It was built in 1711 and has many fountains, all of which are gravity fed. It is so amazing that this palace was also built for receptions and the czar’s family never lived there – they stayed in a smaller palace nearby.
One of the fountains was designed to look like chessboards and another the triton. We marveled at the engineering that went into building these fountains – and we were thankful the tour provided umbrellas!
As we left Peterhof we drove past a palace located on the Gulf of Finland that is now home to Russian President Putin!
After a lunch stop, we drove to another palace – Catherine’s Summer Palace (Catherine I), which was also used only for receptions. After the Revolution, the palace was renamed Pushkin Palace because the people did not want to honor the czar’s family. There are 64 rooms in the palace. During WWII, the Soviet people took more than 40 trainloads of art, china, and smaller sculptures to Siberia to protect them from the Nazis which included several pieces from the palace. They were actually able to save about 70% of the art! When the war was coming to an end, the Nazis tried to destroy as much of the palace as they could, so they wouldn’t leave anything for the Russian people. While the palace originally took eight years to build, it has taken almost 70 years to restore. They are still working on it!
The Apollo statues on the front on the palace were originally all covered in gold, but it has worn away and is very expensive to replace.
Inside the palace we were able to tour several of the rooms. The first – and probably most impressive – was the Great Hall. Windows, mirrors, and gold covered the hall. During the Nazi occupation, it was completely destroyed!
Peter also loved the Delft porcelain from Holland so he had several heaters installed which were built using tiles from Holland. This is also one of Catherine’s gowns.
There were two rooms in the palace where they found original flooring that has not been restored. We had to wear booties over our shoes on the tour to protect them. The picture below shows part of the original parquet floor which was beautiful.
When we left the palace, we were able to see the bridge which connected the palace to the yellow building on the right. The yellow building was established as a school for noble boys.
We headed back to the ship after seeing this palace. I think I will need to add another post just with pictures and information about Russia and St. Petersburg as it is today. There was just so much to take absorb, it is hard to put into words!
As we left Peterhof we drove past a palace located on the Gulf of Finland that is now home to Russian President Putin!
After a lunch stop, we drove to another palace – Catherine’s Summer Palace (Catherine I), which was also used only for receptions. After the Revolution, the palace was renamed Pushkin Palace because the people did not want to honor the czar’s family. There are 64 rooms in the palace. During WWII, the Soviet people took more than 40 trainloads of art, china, and smaller sculptures to Siberia to protect them from the Nazis which included several pieces from the palace. They were actually able to save about 70% of the art! When the war was coming to an end, the Nazis tried to destroy as much of the palace as they could, so they wouldn’t leave anything for the Russian people. While the palace originally took eight years to build, it has taken almost 70 years to restore. They are still working on it!
The Apollo statues on the front on the palace were originally all covered in gold, but it has worn away and is very expensive to replace.
Inside the palace we were able to tour several of the rooms. The first – and probably most impressive – was the Great Hall. Windows, mirrors, and gold covered the hall. During the Nazi occupation, it was completely destroyed!
Peter also loved the Delft porcelain from Holland so he had several heaters installed which were built using tiles from Holland. This is also one of Catherine’s gowns.
There were two rooms in the palace where they found original flooring that has not been restored. We had to wear booties over our shoes on the tour to protect them. The picture below shows part of the original parquet floor which was beautiful.
When we left the palace, we were able to see the bridge which connected the palace to the yellow building on the right. The yellow building was established as a school for noble boys.
We headed back to the ship after seeing this palace. I think I will need to add another post just with pictures and information about Russia and St. Petersburg as it is today. There was just so much to take absorb, it is hard to put into words!
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