In one of the previous publications, we promised to talk about the Grotto, which was located in the Summer Garden. We keep our promises.

For over a hundred years, one of the main decorations of the Summer Garden was the Grotto. This romantic and mysterious structure first appears in the gardens of the Renaissance. European gardens of monarchs and wealthy nobles are decorated with them. Where the terrain allowed, grottoes were arranged on the slopes of hills and terraces. In the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the grotto was one of the most popular structures of baroque gardens (in modern terms – “cool thing”).

Naturally, Peter I could not but adorn his Paradise with such a structure. Therefore, when the German architect Andreas Schlüter arrives in St. Petersburg in 1713, Peter tells him to create the Grotto project. In May 1714, among the works for the summer season, the Grotto is mentioned: “In the garden, make a grotto with cellars and a watercourt, which you should take the preportion from the Director who has already been ordered.” The director is architect Andreas Schlüter, who creates the Grotto project. Unfortunately, in June 1714, Schlüter died, and the work on the creation of the Grotto was entrusted to Georg Mattarnovi. He begins to actively work on the construction of the Grotto, and already in 1715 they order “send braziers and soldering irons to solder lead and copper pipes in the grotto.” This meant that the Grotto’s premises were ready and ready to proceed with the installation of fountains designed in the Grotto. On the famous engraving of Zubov dating from 1716, only the foundation of the Grotto is shown. The work continued, but with the advent of Jean-Baptiste Leblond in St. Petersburg, the construction of the Grotto was frozen because Leblon had his own vision for this project. While administrative issues were being resolved, construction was not carried out. In 1719, the pavilion was completely ready from the outside, and it was possible to proceed to the interior decoration. But in November 1719, Georg Mattarnovi died, and only in February 1720, work would resume under the leadership of Nicolo Michetti. Completely finishing work will be completed in 1724.

True, already in 1723, Berchholz wrote: “The main grotto, decorated with large natural rare shells, corals and the like, which are all very skillfully selected and connected by one Frenchman, is predominantly good. Different beautiful statues are arranged in this grotto, many small water cannons and placed an organ that is powered by water and plays very nicely. ”
The grotto adorned the Summer Garden until the end of the 18th century. Its appearance can be seen on the axonometric plan of St. Petersburg, created under the leadership of St. Hilaire in 1765-1773. At the end of the 18th century, the Grotto, having lost some of its ornaments, represented picturesque ruins. During the reign of Paul I, it was decided to disassemble the grotto and build a dance hall in its place. But this did not happen due to the short reign of Paul. And only in the time of Nicholas I again returned to the restructuring of the Grotto. And in its place appears Coffee House, but that’s another story.

Go to the site of the Gardens of the Russian Museum and groups of the same name on social networks. On Monday, June 8, just from the Coffee House online tour of the Summer Garden will begin.

Be healthy and see you in the gardens.

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