As I have already said in the previous album, there're
Grottos in the Grand cascade. Actually, there're two of them - Upper and
Lower, but after a number of attempts at understanding, which is which
(using people's help and reference literature), I've dropped the idea.
Entrance.
Built to the design of Leblon, although looks a bit different on
pre-WWII photos.
Inside there's a number of galleries. One
of them is closed.
And through the other one excursions are
travelling. I couldn't take a closer look, as the stairs are really
narrow, and when a lot of people are climbing them, you just can't
stop, but I've managed to take some photos.
Tubes, for the most part, that deliver water to the fountains of
the Grand cascade (and others, I presume).
Despite the fact that these must be
official premises, they are decorated at places with various masks and
statues. There's some kind of a musem there (statues, photos, telling
about the fountain system and grottos).
Speaking about the tubes, I'd say some
words about how Peterhoff's fountains work.
Water for them is being drawn from the
pools on the Ropshinskije heights (22km from Peterhoff). The entire
system (gateways, channels) was built in 1720 under the supervision of
hydraulics mechanic V.Tuvolkov. It still works today.
From Ropsha the water flows by the
channel into a
couple of pools first (some 4-5km away from the park), and from
these pools via a system of tubes to the fountains.
At first the tubes were wooden, but in the middle of the XVIII
century they were replaced by iron ones. After the WWII the system
must have been restored, using far more up-to-date technologies.
The walls and ceiling by the entrance
(serving as exit as well) to/from the grottos are decorated in this
very interesting manner. And the stones don't fall on visitors' heads
:)
In the foreground is the "Pan and
Olymp" statue.
My digital camera couldn't handle such an amount of gold. This can
be compensated - if only I had more time and a tripod.
In the center of one of those premises
there's a fountain-cracker "Showery table". It looks like a
table with "fruit" (artificial), but if one tries to take
such a "fruit", the fountain that's hidden inside the table
starts pouring water on the hungry visitor's head. Of cause everybody
on the excursion gathered round this fountain, so all I have is a
description
The "Basket" fountain and Naval
channel can be seen through the grille.
This is where our story of the grottos
ends - there's a lot more interesting ahead :)
