Telling the truth, when I get a certain amount of shots taken in
Peterhoff, I start thinking whether I should or shouldn't make an album of
them, or these fountains (even with all their magnificence) are too tiring
for the audience. But then, I've decided that it's worth it, especially
taking into account the fact that all older Peterhoff albums were made
using my old camera. So here we go :)
Although today we are going to talk only
about the Grand cascade, it's worth mentioning that there're a number
of cascades in the Lower park, with each cascade built to complement
it's own palace:
Grand palace - Grand cascade
Mon-plaisir - cascade of the Dragons ("Chess mountain")
Hermitage - Lion's cascade
Marli - "Golden mountain" cascade
(to the left is one of the "Cup" fountains close to the
Grand cascade)
So, this is the Grand cascade. Marble
terasses with fountains.
Sculptural groups as well as bar-reliefs are here to commemorate
the victories of Russia on the way to the Baltic sea.
The well-known statue "Samson,
tearing lion's jaws" (
Известная фигура "Самсон,
раздирающий пасть льву" (monument in the
memory of 25th anniversary of the Poltavian victory). Around Samson
are 8 dolphins. This statue was made in 1735 by the model of
B.K.Rastrelli.
The fountain that starts in the lion's jaws is the highest in the
Grand cascade - 22 meters.
It's a pity but shooting it from the perfect point without having
specific lens is not that simple...
Against the sun...
We'll delve deeper into the details of
fountains' construction, so for now I'll just note that there're
64...75 of them in the Grand cascade, plus 255 (0xFF :) bronze
sculptures.
If one looks left from this point, he'll
see a series of arches, through which you can get into the Lower
Grotto (there're special excursions there - you'll see what I've shut
during'em in the next album).
Construction of the Grand cascade started
in 1715-1716 (Peter the Great's sketches and I.F.Brownstein's drafts),
and then continued, with some changes, by the plans of Zh.B.Leblon,
then (since 1720) under the control of N.Miketti. The fountains
started working in 1723.
Some of the statues were first cast in lead, but later (in 1799)
they had to be replaced with bronze - the new statues were in the
making for 7 years. Out of 32 bronze sculptures 15 were original
russian ones, the rest being copies from world masterpieces.
This must be Galatea.
From 1858 to 1860 the cascade was
repaired (and somewhere rebuilt) according to the scheme of N.L.Benua
During the WWII a lot was destroyed. From 1946 to 1947 the cascade
was being restored, and those statues that weren't protected during
the occupation were built from scratch (4 major ones, including
Samson).
In the foreground is Persey with a sword
in one hand and the head of Medusa Gorgona.
In the background is one of the two
Voronihin's colonnades
The pool where Samson stands is called
"Scoop".
By the way, the fact that the victory is depicted by Samson and
lion is no coincidence. A month after the poltavian victory (which was
held on the day of the holy Samson Strannopriimets) during one of the
sermons the priest Feofan Prokopovitch said, that Peter "like
a second Samson... had torn apart the courageous jaws of the
neighbour's lion".
Lion was a part of the Swedish coat of arms
Fountain "Basket" before
the Big Grotto. It was called "The ring" years ago and
looked slightly different. It was rebuilt by N.L.Benua during the
reconstruction.
Triton blows the shell.
The sea channel, leading from the Grand cascade to the gulf is the
"symmetry axis" of the Lower park (i.e. to the left and to
the right of it the park occupies almost the same space).
He's gonna shoot her with one of his
arrows ;-)
Although the historical truth is far more prosaic... The shooter
(hunter Akteon) in this very moment is turning into a deer (the
antlers are already growing). The statue of Diana, because of whom all
this happened, didn't fit in the shot. So I've decided to replace it
:)
We're done with this album, but not the
Grand cascade - the next album is about the Grottos, it's
imprescriptible part.
