autumn a glorious celebration marks the end of the fountain season today's event is dedicated to the war of eighteen twelve over this magnificent ensemble of museums and fountains is more than just a remnant of peter the great snipe hunt century russia has also bears the scars of world war two. it was worth it welcome to peter hall of it is the most visited museum in russia around four point two million tourists come to peterhof every year why do people come here because peterhof boasts one hundred fifty fountains seven palaces and twenty three museums and of course the most important highlight of peterhof is its fountain system. below are from first fountains go after.

each day of the live million cell phones of tourists together in the lower gardens of be tough to see for themselves the fountain stone. takes twelve people to open all the bells and recently it's been accompanied by small petersburg's and some of. the idea to build best residence struck peter the great during his diplomatic visit to verse. however all of the fountains of the first side were run with the help of pumps so they could only operate without human assistance for a very short period of time and then they had to be pumped up because surely. that is why you have a great use the italian gravity system. this means all the gram cascade fountains

floats on there are. these fountains spread thousand liters of water per second and in a day the use of almost thirteen peaches that's enough to fill twelve olympic sized swimming pool and to date the fountains have never dropped. peter laughed what are very much this feature was his brainchild and she wanted to put it into life and see what it would look like and she did. i knew both of she could not wait until the official opening of the entire system and she did a test run well before construction was complete the formal. peterhof means peter is caught in germany. in the early eighteenth century. europe's best architects sculptors. like francisco nicolette machete.

all hired to help to realize his grand ideas. even after construction never stopped as each successive contributed to its present appearance is huge grounds can easily fit more than five hundred football fields. so if his researching the imperial residence is unique fountain system to finish her ten year long project she still has to conduct a number of interviews. the state of the fountain is well known for the pipe system very few are aware of it so i would like to make people familiar with it. has been in charge of preserving the fountain system for thirty five years. she made up our minds to work here when she first saw the grand cascade at the age of five.

grottos beneath the fountains a little by daylight and still because they did peter the greats time back then only people who were thin and short enough would be able to work here so they could climb into a pipe and fix anything that broke down today's engineers sold such problems with the help of technology. enough for to day so we can stand. no problems today. i saw a small leak but you can look at it closely and decide what to do about it. the water comes through the spout them. everything's fine. the grand cascades central feature is the gilded samson fountain. the water jets from alliance mel shoots twenty one meters up into the sky. the samson fountain

commemorates russia's victory over sweetening the decisive battle of poltava leading to victory in the great north and. since then the image of samson has not only symbolized peter the great and the russian army but also the victory in world will too. since you put in september nineteenth forty one the germans began their nine hundred day scenes of leningrad the authorities took what ever valuables they could from the palace to st isaac's cathedral these figures on the cascade were birdied in the park but the samson weighs three and a half tons it was simply too heavy to move when german soldiers took pictures here in the one nine hundred forty three samson was still present when our troops liberated peter hall from the samson was gone. when peterhof was seized by the

nazis it was almost completely demolished the occupying forces took away the major bronze statues and led best reliefs of the ground a cascade almost ten thousand of the park's trees were cut down ditches and trenches replaced once magnificent palaces. after the war when restoring the gardens and parks many were killed by unexploded landmines. who had returned to the city were invited to reconstruct the fountain system before the revolution of nine hundred seventeen the head of the family worked as a fountain maker for emperor nicholas the second. his son pavel of followed in his father's footsteps. it was nineteen forty six. as far as i remember the opening of the first construction stage are there only two

italian fountains as well as terrorist fountains. there only has pedestal. father and son had to work together all through the night only two hours before the grand opening a nine hundred forty seven with the water jets for the pedestal of the grand cascade finally and stoled. were also present during the excavation of numerous sculptures sort of denied in forty one of our guys were quick enough to bury all the sculptures from the chests mountain cascade and the gold hill cascade the germans never guessed they had done it no wonder it was the russians who buried them right where there are moved them. next to their cascade go-go and of course if the germans a guest about it they would have taken all those sculptures with them. as for samson he was never found some believe that the germans took him away to be melted

down for bronze and so sculpt siminoff made a new one. had been a war and a blockade more than one million people had died from starvation and the beautiful shiny sampson was delivered by tractor people were crying and kneeling down the police have stopped traffic it was delivered here to open the forty seven fountain season for old russians the samson fountain is the main fountain of russia it's not only a symbol of peter's victory in pulp but also of our whole a roic history. villian go off is the oldest staff member of peta hoff he knows the history of every sculpture in the park in detail and only after his thorough examination may or restored statue returned to peter home. on the bush shouldn't deviate from the units mean what. follows the picture that you sent us was thinking the way in which

i think is at the end so you press down the finger a little bit nervous preston already over. it's just because the one in the picture. of course it can be proved. today the biggest problem for peterhof sculptures is vandalism some tourists break fingers off the statues but on bananas to them they're only taking home replicas many of the originals have long been kept hidden away in storage. despite. sculptures have always been damaged now and in the times of peter the great city. of here incidentally is one of peterhof spece has some drama. but the. greek mythology has it that she was the daughter of an ethiopian king. who was due to be sacrificed to

a sea monster so it would stop ravaging her kingdom. and it was the ancient hero who defeated the sea monster who put them all. over the beautiful andromeda. the right hand was reconstructed off to the wall. however you can see that this reconstructed hand doesn't have five fingers. but. this unusual sculpture is near mt placea peter the great favorite palace and the only building here to survive world war two intact when approaching the neptune fountain peter the great he used to say that was the best medicine this is the first bronze statue of russia before that there were no secular statues in russia all the sculptures were religious and were made of either wood or stone and peter wanted to have his own neptune that time all the bronze was of course used to make

cannons so they took a bronze trophy cannon and cast this first neptune the people always ask why it has such a feat this is because. to rub them for luck. and how many times. oh the more the better. the voting will go we've spent a lot of time thinking what to do for the fountain season's closing ceremony. which we realize it wasn't just any old event but the two hundredth anniversary of the victory in the a c. and twelve will continue from the main theme of this performance is a pool interrupted by the war but here for me but the dances like these were common in this palace and we commemorate sing of the two hundredth anniversary of bros and have a seat before the. piece

of stuff members some two thousand of them are busy making final preparations for the fountain season's closing ceremony details of the performance are a closely guarded secret given from those who look at the historic peterhof every day. world. science technology innovation all the list of melons from around russia we've got this huge earth covered.

wealthy british science. class. market why not. going to find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report. that.

would be soon which brightened. a bounce from funds to impressions. who find stocks on t.v. dot com. for a few days and paid to house alexandria punk time goes back to the era of cardinal richelieu. transforms into la rochelle complete with a fortress camp god's guns and waltzes the main x. is a musket is performing daring feats like chasing carriages about it. in the old days various people brought to peter hall from france and today the stunts is still staged by the french. a new movie based on one of alexander most nobles is being

shot here. but for the book is simply wonderful that's why we're shooting here can you see the beautiful trees around you is that it looks like vintage strong. lugs which are two hundred years old if not older. unlike the grand palaces and geometrical designs elsewhere in peterhof the alexandria landscape is mostly natural. this for a mental poet was created in the nineteenth century when nicholas the first was emperor it was named after his wife alexandra. at the beginning of the twentieth century it was a favorite spot for nicholas the second the last emperor of the roman often a city whose children were raised here.

but won't see how you're doing. these centuries old trees are under the strict control of a curator. of a only two hundred of the oaks that saul peter the great and his successors remain there regularly inspected by specialists in wood diseases and part of the process involves detailed imaging technology. because i knew the results. in the wood floors healthy and remain hell famous not. well it's getting a bit draw yeah and there is some who did good in the middle east who did you know but all in all its condition would remain the same. visit to me it's a good joke and it was good. to draw the visitor's eyes the park benefits from a range of natural lighting effects. all creating

a beautifully glistening effect in the water with the rays of light playing through regular rows of trees though it was what made you and now we are walking along another avenue of the lower gardens it is called marley alley because it leads to the marley palace. where you can see the palace. three other avenues of the lower gardens lead to the mardi palace you've moved one such style of garden is called french formal garden will be from the french gardens have straight avenues and the trees are trimmed to give them a regular joe metric forms for. peter the great once flew into a rage when he saw a friend jock attacked it invited to peterhof cutting down trees bizarre was quick

to beat his guest john but he's alone with a stick but he was later embarrassed to discover that the blonde was in fact simply trimming the trees he was so eager to impress foreign visitors with a new image of russia but he gladly took home the new european trend for trimming trees. he got that night it was we need to make it trapped by cutting law from the tell and a little bit less said the bots and. that's how we're be able to achieve that trap is always shape. interesting like the french once believed that only men could become governess they thought that as a mother it was difficult for a woman to cause a living thing but here in the gardens of peterhof male god knows how the exception rather than the rule. of his job is to preserve the gardens historic appearance so they are. trees.

trees growing in these gardens. but. through the spring. search.

the special feature. is the. difference. through. the entire pipeline covers

a length of forty kilometers. realized peter's ideas and the emperor himself dug out the last shovel of earth from the new canal in seventeen twenty one the fountains began to flow. in some places the pipes installed in the days of peter the great have been preserved however the gravity fountains of peterhof are at risk cottage settlements are being built near the storage ponds and artesian wells are being dug in the future this may lead to both pollution and water shortages. if we do not take any measures in the nearest future namely develop a strategy to protect the entire system it may be too late. as a result we may end up using pump. this is highly undesirable as the phone to work in only a few hours a day if that happens. people wanted to impress the gardens visitors not just with

fountains but with a variety of entertainment some one does such as trimming trees in the shape of fairy tale characters brought in from overseas were strolling along the avenues and the special selection of trick fountains. here we have peter holmes trick. or full of them were designed to take visitors by surprise so that they would end up under a jet of water quite unexpectedly. when you sit on the bench for instance. back in the days of the great people used to make big wigs and dresses powdered their faces and the. legend has it that. these jets of water. was. seconds and then. finally when your makeup is all i can see your face.

beauty is inseparable from function. that's the motto here at the peterhof gardens and all the buildings. purposes. of the greats garden is an example of this. fruit and vegetable seeds. where is scolded to russia as a valuable cargo. though the wood says garden has the fairy plants that peter is a great first brought to russia in seventeen eleven rule is that i think that all of them grow here to take us if this is lettice bradish this famous and the most unusual bit to go cold and sigh to choke and

a course potatoes. in the legend has it that peter is a great planter defers to sacks of potatoes with his own head. vegetables became so popular that the white flowers from potato plants were the most fashionable and ladies had decoration for quite some time today the keeper of the historical garden because mento sets about harvesting fruit and vegetables according to dutch tradition she uses them to decorate the vases in peterhof slower gardens. agio the fountain festival is dedicated to a particular era in two thousand and twelve the show takes the audience back to the

heroic battles of eighteen twelve reminding everyone of the fact that two hundred years ago moscow burns down almost completely and shows the victory over napoleon at the bottom but i do know. for the first time a multimedia laser show brings the walls of the grand palace to life palatial scenery becomes a virtual display the closing of the season is still truly on an imperial scale. the day off to the spectacle sophia met with the fountain system's chief specialist as study of peterhof is nearing completion. could you tell me how do the new

have built cottages impact the water supply system and. so far it hasn't had any harmful impact as not a single call to church settlement has been commissioned yet but this course there are concerns that it's made lead to some kind of environmental to sell us toughs and that this what do you think is the most difficult part of operating the water supply system in terms of technology. a solution of so servicing to found this is quite easy it's a work of genius and everything of genius is simple. making judge days is always coincides with the fountain festival and i usually have mixed feelings it's joy and sadness joy from the fact that we've grown fine crops that

will decorate the garden and the guests will enjoy them and sadness because the season is over and winter is knocking on the dole. when the fountain season is over and life changes say here the life is the goal without peter hall. without working fountains peter hall feels different. and for the main guardian of the fountain system you know your shoulder and all those who work with autumn is a reminder to time flows by just like water. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you

thought you knew you don't know i'm charming welcome to the big picture.

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