Grand Palace

Baroque tsarist palace on the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg — the "Russian Versailles" with over 150 fountains and UNESCO World Heritage status.

The Grand Palace of Peterhof is the magnificent centrepiece of the former summer residence of the Russian tsars on the Gulf of Finland, about 25 kilometres west of St. Petersburg. Tsar Peter the Great commissioned the complex from 1714 onwards — inspired by Versailles, yet Peterhof surpasses its French model in the density and spectacle of its water features. More than 150 fountains and over 2,000 gilded sculptures animate the sweeping gardens that cascade from the palace terrace down to the sea canal. The Grand Palace itself was rebuilt in lavish Baroque style by Bartolomeo Rastrelli under Empress Elizabeth I and today houses state apartments with gilded ceremonial rooms. The entire ensemble has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. Heavily damaged in World War II, the palace was restored to its former splendour through decades of painstaking work.