Peterhof
Peterhof, suburb of St. Petersburg, northwestern European Russia. It lies on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of the city of St. Petersburg
Peter I (the Great) founded Peterhof in 1709 as a country estate. After visiting the French court in 1717, he decided to make Peterhof into an imperial residence that would rival Versailles. The Baroque Grand Palace (1714–28) was designed by Domenico Trezzini and the palace’s gardens by Alexandre Le Blond; Bartolomeo Rastrelli enlarged the structure in 1752. Peterhof subsequently became the most lavish and popular of the Russian royal summer residences. Nicholas II spent much time in Peterhof, and the last tsarevich (heir apparent) in the Romanov line, Aleksey Nikolayevich, was born there in 1904.
The town was devastated during the siege of Leningrad (1941–44), and German armies laid waste the palace grounds. After Soviet forces liberated the region, the city was renamed Petrodvorets, as the name “Peterhof” was perceived as sounding too German. The restoration and reconstruction of the city’s palaces and parks was begun almost immediately and, because of the scale of the damage, continued into the 21st century. In 1997 the St. Petersburg government split Petrodvorets into the city of Peterhof and the village of Strelna, but this division was not formally recognized by the Russian government until 2009.
The modern city of Peterhof is a rail terminus, port, and resort centre. The products of the surrounding agricultural area consist of lumber, dairy cattle, pigs, vegetables, and potatoes. Industries in the city include watch factories and lapidary works. Many workers commute to central St. Petersburg by way of a suburban train line. The Grand Palace (now a museum); the 39 miles (63 km) of canals that connect the intricate system of fountains, as well as pavilions, small palaces, and gardens; and the noted statue Samson Rending the Lion’s Jaws (a copy of the original sculpted by Mikhail Kozlovsky in 1802) are today part of a 2,500-acre (1,000-hectare) museum and park complex. Pop. (2010) 73,199; (2014 est.) 75,267.