Granite terrace

For three decades of the 18th century, the site of the current Granite Terrace was occupied by the Sledding Hill, with slopes used for sledding in winter and summer. In the form we see it today, the granite terrace was built in early 1810 according to the design of architect Ruska. The history of constructions on this site dates back to the 1730s, when a hill for sledding on "boats" and "bark sleds" was created here. Later, a stone Sledding Hill appeared for sledding at any time of the year. The Sledding Hill was a complex and grandiose amusement structure. The central two-story stone pavilion of this impressive entertainment facility was built according to the drawings and model by Rastrelli. Its facades were decorated with columns, pilasters, gilded vases, and statues. Above the octagonal hall in the center of the pavilion rested a dome, also crowned with a statue. On the sides of the central hall were two small round halls — a dining room and a game room. The central building was a two-story, richly decorated stone pavilion. On the lower floor, there were three halls: the central hall, the dining room, and a third for games. All windows on this floor were glazed.

Two ramps with platforms, called forsas, adjoined the central part of the building on the sides. From these, special mechanical sleds slid down rails towards the Large Pond and the Red Cascade. The sleds were pulled back up by horses. The technical aspect of the hill was calculated by the Russian scientist Nartov. Near the ramps were carousels with swings and other outdoor amusement devices for games. The sleds were single- and double-seaters, painted, upholstered with cloth and silk. In winter, they were placed on oak runners. In August 1764, it was ordered to extend the sledding slopes. In 1765, architect Neelov added a third ramp to the hill. Two were used in summer, and the third in winter.

In 1780, Roman Emperor Joseph II, during his stay in Tsarskoye Selo, took a liking to the Sledding Hill and requested its plan from Catherine II. The Empress ordered a large model of the hill to be made. The biographer of the Russian capitals of that time, Pylyaev, describes an interesting incident: it is known that Count Orlov possessed extraordinary strength; he could hold six horses galloping at full speed in a carriage by grabbing its rear wheel. "He broke horseshoes jokingly and bent an iron poker." Catherine II nearly perished while sledding in Tsarskoye Selo on the high hills. Her carriage’s wheel came off the track, and then Count Orlov, who was riding with her, put out his leg, grabbed the railing at full speed, and thus saved the Empress. Memoirist Lady Dimsdale, who visited Tsarskoye Selo in 1781 with her husband, described these hills of varying heights, standing one after another.

The tallest hill was nine meters high. The carriage descending from it, by inertia, entered the next hill, lower, about one and a half meters high. Thus, the sled sped along to the last hill, which was a gentle slope from which the carriage flew over the water to the island at almost the same speed. These wooden hills had a total length of 302 meters and were used for sledding both in winter and summer. After the incident with the Empress and Count Orlov, whose leg ached for a long time due to an injury on the hills, it was ordered to dismantle this entertaining and dangerous structure.

Between 1792 and 1795, the Sledding Hill was dismantled, and in its place architect Cameron built a large gallery with 32 columns made of Pudost stone. However, by the late 1790s, this gallery was also demolished (the remaining materials were used in the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle in Saint Petersburg and buildings in Pavlovsk). In the early 1800s, it was decided to build a large granite terrace on this site, the project of which was developed in 1809 by architect Ruska (1758–1822).

The Granite Terrace faces the Large Pond; two staircases are located on its sides. The terrace walls are decorated with massive Doric columns without bases, whose shafts, supporting the balustrade pedestals, are carved from gray granite, and the capitals from pink granite. Shallow niches framed by archivolts made of gray stone blocks are set into the pink granite walls. The granite cladding appeared at the end of the 19th century when architect Danini replaced the previous limestone facing. Ruska planned to decorate the terrace with two marble statues, but his plan was not realized. In the 1850s, galvanoplastic copies of antique sculptures — "Venus de' Medici," "Faun with a Kid," "Apoxyomenos," and others — were installed on the balustrade pedestals. This collection consisted of works from the foundry workshop of the Imperial Academy of Arts, made using the galvanoplasty technique invented in 1838 by the Russian physicist Jacobi (1801–1874). The sculptures have been preserved and still stand in their historical places.

In 1810, simultaneously with the construction of the Granite Terrace, Ruska built the Large Granite Pier on the shore of the Large Pond — a simple architectural platform with steps, four round granite pedestals, and railings. In the 1850s, the pier was decorated with galvanoplastic statues. These statues — the "Borghese Gladiator" and the "Discobolus" — have survived to this day.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, flower beds existed on the hillside. Every year, hundreds of rose bushes were planted in the ground here. The decorative parterre in front of the Granite Terrace was created according to a project by architect Dubyago, developed in the 1950s.

Sources:

https://www.tzar.ru/objects/ekaterininskypark/landscape/granite

https://pushkin.spb.ru/encycl/parks/granitnaya-terrassa.html