Old postcards Petrodvorets

Petrodvorets began as Peter I’s country residence on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. The Grand Palace was founded in 1714, and in the same year work started on Monplaisir, the small palace by the water that Peter liked best. Bartolomeo Rastrelli rebuilt the Grand Palace for Empress Elizabeth in 1747–1752, while the Grand Cascade and the Sea Canal running down to the gulf became the axis of the whole ensemble.

The Soviet postcards of Petrodvorets in this section come from several sets. The 1972 set is largely about the sculpture of the Grand Cascade: Actaeon, Galatea, Pandora, Venus Callipyge, the river allegories Volkhov and Neva, and the grotto with the Barberini Faun, plus Flora and Zephyr in the Upper Park and the Golden Hill cascade. Samson, Neva and Volkhov were lost during the Second World War; the cascade reopened with recreated statues in 1947.

The 1980 set also goes indoors: the Throne Hall, the Portrait Hall and the Partridge Drawing Room of the Grand Palace, and the Chinese-style Lacquer Study at Monplaisir. The 1983 set returns to the water with the Sheaf, Bowl, Sun and Menagerie fountains, the Roman Fountains and the view from the Grand Cascade along the Sea Canal.

Samson Tearing Open the Jaws of the Lion, installed in 1735, appears in both the 1980 and the 1983 sets, so the two cards can be checked against each other.