Samson Fountain is the focal point of the Grand Cascade


Monplaisir Palace

     The Palace and Park Ensemble of PETERHOF is a masterpiece of the Russian culture and art of the 18th and 19th centuries, one of the richest Royal summer residences (called the Russian Versaille). Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, thirty kilometers from St. Petersburg, it consists of the Upper and Lower Parks with 150 fountains and numerous cascades, palaces and pavilions.
     The focal point of the ensemble uniting the parks is the Grand Palace, the principal structure of the complex (built between 1714 and 1725, rebuilt by F.-B. Rastrelli in 1747-54). The splendid state rooms of the Palace executed after the design of the architects Rastrelli, Felten, Vallin de la Mothe by talented Russian carvers, parquet-makers, sculptors and painters are striking by the wealth and variety of their decor. The Portrait, Throne and Chesme Rooms, the White Banquet Hall, the Divan, Crown, Partridge and Dressing Rooms, the Blue Drawing-room, the Chinese and Oak Studies and other interiors are most valuable monuments of Russian art of the mid-18th century.
     An inimitable panorama of the fountains, the canal and the sea unfolds from the terrace of the Grand Palace. The Great Cascade with the Grotto, one of the greatest fountain complex in the world, consists of 64 fountains and 255 sculptures and decorative details celebrating the power of the Russian state. The central sculptural group Samson, decorating the largest fountain of the cascade (and the world!), which spurts a stream of water twenty metres high, was built to commemorate the victory at Poltava. The sculptures of the Great Cascade are a priceless collection of works by outstanding Russian sculptors of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
     On the territory of the ensemble there are about 20 working museums.