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More remarkable than the Cathedral is
Leblond's very important accomplishment, the Great palace at Peterhof,
presently Petrodvorets erected in 1720. The palace resembles Versailles, with
its beautiful fountains. Leblond also brought the French type of garden to
Russia, an art he had learned from his teacher Le Notre. Their large and long
alleys, monumental stairways and large pools fit nicely into the immense
Russian landscape, offering a grandiose sight. Russian royalty and aristocrats
quickly developed a liking for water, pools and fountains often embellished
with statues, and they became an important decorative element of their palaces.
Catherine II enlarged the palace without disturbing its harmony. Le Blond is
also credited with bringing to Saint Petersburg the first lanterns, illuminated
with burning oil. For photographs of Peterhof please go to
peteburg. or to
Peterhov.
The palace became the center of the social life of the new capital. The main
event became Peter's so-called "Assemblies" (Assemble), arranged to
copy the meetings and halls that French kings were giving at Versailles. The
difference was that Russians more often turned them into revalries after
consuming much vodka. Nevertheless, at these reunions discussions often touched
serious problems and undoubtedly were the best place for intellectual
exercises, where prominent foreigners shared their views with the Russians.
Most of the halls were decorated with objects of art brought by Peter from the
West. While avoiding the luxury of French or Italian palaces, he did much to
enrich his capital with western art pieces, mainly brought from Holland and
Germany, which he exhibited to his people who had not yet developed a taste for
travel, or those for whom travel was impossible.
To lessen Russia's dependance on foreign artists and architects, Peter decided
to send young Russians to Western Europe. Among those who went abroad to study
"Military and civil architectures" were a few who were later quite
successful. Thus P.M. Yeropkin, 1690-1740, planned the streets and boulevards
of Saint Petersburg, including the Nevskii Prospekt. I. K. Korobov, 1700-1747
was commissioned to build the Admiralty. Among the better known was also M. G.
Zemtsov, 1688-1743, though several others left very little that deserves
mention. For most of them the difficulty of departing from traditional forms
won out over their desire to imitate foreigners. There was hardly any other way
to pull Russian architecture out of the middle ages. With the exception of a
few Russians, who eventually could be favorably compared to prominent European
architects, most other depended on what foreigners brought into their country.
One exception to this dependence, though, was the native sense of the
picturesque, and of pastel colors. The palaces that mushroomed throughout the
country often escaped the monotony of horizontal lines that in many instances
overburdened the classic architecture of the West. However, Russian monumental
architects continued to depend on foreigners for any novelty, and the situation
has not changed much since. The difference is that now, the Soviet union looks
for inspiration and models to imitate not to nearby Europe but to distant
America.
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