Grand Cascade in Peterhof

Grand Cascade in Peterhof
The key role in the artistic appearance of the cascade, was given to the sculptural decoration, that was solving the main task of the grand construction, - to allegorically glorify the might of the Russian state and the victory of the Russian weaponry in the Northern war.
Originally, all the decor consisted of the lead gilded sculptures, that lost their former beauty by the end of the XVIII century. They were replaced in bronze, with the copies of works of the antiquity and renaissance masters among them, as well as 15 original masterpieces of the best domestic sculptors of the time: M.I. Kozlovsky, I.P. Prokofiev, F.F. Shchedrin, I.P. Martos, F.I. Shubin, J.D. Rachette. The new sculptures took their places in 1806. Today, the decorative pieces of the cascade include 37 bronze gilded statues, 16 vases, 29 bas-reliefs, the coat-of-arms, brackets, mascarons, busts, dolphins, lions and frogs - all together 225 sculptures from bronze, lead and marble, constituting the sumptuous appearance of the Grand cascade. It was forming during a century and a half, but these changes did not violate its integrality and the original idea, of the largest triumphal memorial of its time.
All private tourist guides in Saint-Petersburg, Russia are on PRIVATE GUIDE WORLD