From New Peterhof to Old Peterhof

In fact, New Peterhof looks older than Old Peterhof, as it happens. The village of Old Peterhof did arise earlier, but it was an ordinary peasant settlement. Next to this village was located a hunting reserve, and only thanks to this circumstance in the Old Peterhof a few old buildings in the historic area of Yegerskaya Sloboda have been preserved. When in the early XVIII century the construction of the imperial residence began on the shores of the bay, the site for the palace and the park was chosen nearby, but a little east of Old Peterhof - and it was called New Peterhof.

The residents of the new settlement were those who worked on the construction or were engaged in supplying the new residence. Later in the town were settled mostly by the palace employees, and on the surrounding land settled the peasant farms of the palace peasants. The heart of this town is a system of lakes and canals through which water runs to the fountains in the imperial park.

The fountain water conduit begins on an elevated site, the Ropsha Heights. Due to the natural slope of the area, water reaches the parks by gravity, and for the operation of the fountains there was no need to build water lifting machines. The length of the water pipeline is about 24 kilometers. Water goes through specially arranged channels, and on the way fills several ponds and reservoirs. Along the canals there are walkways, and on a hot summer day it's very pleasant to walk along the water along these green corridors.

In the water canals reflect the old buildings - the building of the city fire department, the house of the Chief of the Peterhof Palace Board and others. Each of the house has its own story, and if you listen carefully to what the walls are whispering, you can hear a lot of entertaining. Here, for example, is the story of the manager's daughter, who ran away from home in 1869 and went to Geneva:

"The commandant of Peterhof, Evreinov, has a very beautiful daughter; the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolay Nikolayevich was very much attracted to this daughter. The young girl's father was not averse to the Grand Duke's advances; on the contrary, he strongly encouraged them. This drove the young girl out of her patience. Pursued from two sides, she wanted to drown herself, but a friend of hers, to whom she wrote of her hopeless situation, advised her, rather than drown herself, it was better to leave."

I decided to extend my walk and walk from the parks and canals of New Peterhof to Old Peterhof, to see if any of the historic buildings of the Yegerskaya Sloboda have survived. This toponym is marked on the map, but on the panoramas it is difficult to see the buildings in the back of the neighborhood: from the street side only the gardens are visible.

I chose to stop by the Golitsynsky Garden on the way, this garden is home to new stone sculptures. All sculptures are modern, they were installed in the XXI century. I especially liked the "Chariot," the work of Igor Chernoglazov.

From the park, I turned onto a wide boulevard, then walked through another garden, and finally found myself in a small neighborhood of old buildings. It consists of only a few houses, and if you walk a little further, you'll find yourself in a typical dacha area.

At the very end of my walk I saw a building of no historical or artistic value, but it was a building that caught my attention with a sign near the entrance. Usually such signs with a picture of a ferocious dog have "Beware of the vicious dog!" written on them, but here there was a very different text: "No feeding the dog!" The two dogs behind the fence were smiling at passersby, making innocent faces, and hopefully seeing everyone off with an attentive stare. They certainly wouldn't turn down a yummy snack!