Peterhof
PETEHOF The idea of Peter the Great was to make it like Versailles in France but better than Versailles. He succeeded to do it.
Peterhof museum located in Peterhof town outskirts of Saint-Petersburg.
It is in about 1-hour drive from Saint-Petersburg in the south-west direction, along the sea-shore, just about 20 kilometers, but there are speed limits and traffic jam and traffic lights on the way. So, about 1 hour.
Sometimes the parks might be closed due to strom warning.
No need to pump the water. The water comes down along the pipes from the hills and then due to the gravity it goes up for the fountains.
In Versailles they didn’t have enough water but we have too much water. It is sweet fresh water from the spring of the hills, which after the fountains moves into the sea. So it is a waste of water which impresses the people.
Our fountains are covered with real gold.
The palace and the park are on the seashore and facing the sea.
THE FOUNTAINS
FOUNTAINS – must see in summer. For winter they just switch them off. Otherwise the water inside the pipes would be frozen in winter and would blow up the pipes and the system. The average temperature in winter is about -5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit), but usually it is changing all the time, jumping from -5 Celsius to +5 then to -15 and - 18 or - 25 sometimes, especially in February. This winter we have strangely worm weather.
They start the fountains usually in the very end of April or beginning of May and stop them in the middle of October. When the fountains are on you have to pay entrance fee to the park. When they are off the park is free of charge.
Meanwhile, the official opening celebrations takes part in the middle of May, around the 10th of May and the official closing is in September, which makes people think that the fountains are not available before this opening and after the closing. The point is just that chose the best time for celebrating and for the concert, to be able to give show with possible most comfortable weather condition. It is better not to go for this celebration - it is too overcrowded.
The fountains are able to be on in the begging of May, it is already Ok for fountains but not a good pleasure to stand in the open air for several hours to watch the show. The same with the closing.
The fountains are functioning without problems till middle of October and one can go and enjoy the fountains but it would be a doubtful pleasure to stay in the open air for many hours watching show in October. That is why closing of Fountains celebration doesn’t really mean the closing.
The main fountains are in the Lower Park but please not forget to go to the upper Garden which is free of charge all the year though, it has just a couple of not very big fountains but really nice one, French style park with a maze and roses, part of it is arranged as a kitchen-garden, like all of it was used for vegetables and fruits growing 300 years ago.
THE GREAT PALACE
The Great Peterhof Palace (which shouldn’t be called Summer Palace, as it is written in some guide books. Summer palace of Peter the Great is in the Summer Garden in Saint-Petersburg)
It is better to go to the Palace in winter. In summer we have a lot of other things to see in Peterhof, I would say even more important in summer.
But if you happen to come here inwinter, it would be really good to go to The Great Petehof Palace.
Some people call it Summer palace which is not correct. They didn’t even make it to use it as a summer palace, the main idea was to make a beautiful place to show to Ambassadors and Kings, to represent Russian and to show off. For sure they used it in summer because of the fountains, as far as in winter the water is frozen and no fountains are on.
But if we are talking about the Summer Palace – we have a palace with an official name – Summer Palace, it is in Summer Garden, in Saint-Petersburg, it is Summer Palace of Peter the Great. It is really special thing but really open for public in summer only and it is not a big one, it was the place where Peter the Great lived and he didn’t like big palaces.
The Great palace is one of the main attractions in Peterhof and one of the doubtful in summer. It is too busy, you will have to move there without stops, not enough oxygen because of too many people.
It is a good time to go there and it worths going in winter, when it is not so busy, peaceful and nice, this is the time when I enjoy it.
During the Second World War of 1941-1945 the Great Palace was badly damaged. Nazis put it on fire and blew it up. Small items and the things which were possible to remove Russians evacuated or hided before nazis came.
For example, Russians evacuated some part of the porcelain, examples of furniture, spare parts of silk for the walls, paintings, books. The big statures in the park and parts of fountains like pipes and jets they buried in the ground. Some of them survived some of them Nazis found and took away.
The Great Palace is officially closed on Monday, but if you would like to go there on Monday, I can organize for the special tickets.
MONPLAISIRE
MONPLAISIRE – open in summer only, to be more exact starting from about middle of May till September. It is better to check beforehand. It depends on weather either. If it rains in summer it will be also closed, so fragile and valuable the things inside and the building itself. As far as we have rain quite often and not always know about it beforehand it is better to get a guided tour with a special ticket from your guide which will let you enter it nothwithstanding the weather with your guide in summer time. It is not the only museum which is closed if it rains. You should be careful – it might rain anytime.
Palace of Peter the Great where he really lived, which was not made just to show off but to live in, and one of the not numerous buildings which survived the Second World War, because Nazis lived in it and also were going to use it as a dugout or protection in case of Russian attack from the sea.
It is important that in this palace you can see the paintings and the walls which are 3 hundred years old.
You will see real things which belonged to Peter the great one may be the very first water closed in Europe – they had too much water, that is why used the water for different things. To clean the toilet for example. Also they made pipes for water supply of the kitchen. It was unusual for the house of the tzar that the kitchen was inside the palace, they usually never did this because of smell. But Peter the Great was a special person. He wanted his food extremely hot and fresh, moreover the empress his wife was cooking for him, not the servants. How it happened I will tell you in one of my other stories, I think it will be a story about Peter the Great and his wives.
GROTTOES OF THE GRAND CASCADE
One of my favorite museums. We are going down into the cellar of the palace and you will see part of the water supply system for the fountains.
Then you will be taken aback by the tricky fountains remaid according to the ideas of Peter the Great.
And after that you will come out into the heart of the Great cascade – the middle part of it for the best pictures in the park.
This museum is not open in winter but opening time is not influenced by the weather and rain. This year the museum will be open after the25th of April.
The only thing you should be careful about – you will have to go down quite a steep staircase.