In 1743, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna declared her nephew, the son of Peter I's daughter Anna — Peter Fedorovich — the heir to the Russian throne and gifted him Oranienbaum. From 1746, the heir prince and his young wife, Princess Sophia-Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, spent the summer months in Oranienbaum with their so-called "Small Court."
The future Russian emperor Peter III, German on his father's side, who spent his childhood years in Germany and admired Frederick II's military system, devoted all his youthful amusements and entertainments to studying military regulations and playing with tin soldiers. As he grew older, this obsessive passion filled almost all his free time, with the only difference that wooden toys were replaced by live soldiers specially recruited from the Duchy of Holstein. For them, Peter Fedorovich decided to build a real fortress in Oranienbaum, fully meeting the requirements of 18th-century fortification art.
The Petersstadt fortress ensemble was created between 1758 and 1762. On the right bank of the Karasta River stood a mock fortress for Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Emperor Peter III. It had the shape of a fourteen-pointed star, included 4 bastions, and was essentially rebuilt from a smaller fortress of Saint Peter previously erected on this site. Peter Fedorovich was the commandant of Petersstadt, and its garrison consisted of Holstein soldiers and officers who came to serve Peter from the Duchy of Holstein.
Special houses were built for the officers and two Holstein generals. The entrance to the fortress was decorated with the so-called Honorary Gates, on the axis of which stood the stone "Commandant's House," historically known as the Palace of Peter III. Both were designed by one of the greatest architects of the 18th century, Antonio Rinaldi, who had recently arrived from Italy to Russia and became the chief architect of Oranienbaum.
Inside the fortress were various buildings — an arsenal, powder magazine, houses for the commandant, officers, and guardhouse. In the center was a pentagonal parade ground. It was surrounded by one-story buildings, between which rose the stone Honorary Entrance Gates. Almost opposite them, near the fortress's northeast bastion, a small two-story palace for Peter Fedorovich was built according to Rinaldi's design.
After the palace coup on June 28, 1762, and the death of Peter III, Petersstadt was maintained in its original form until the end of Catherine II's reign. In the early 19th century, all wooden buildings in the fortress were dismantled, and by the mid-19th century, only the Honorary Entrance Gates and the Palace of Peter III remained from the entire fortress. These are the only Petersstadt structures that have survived to this day. The architect of the gates was Antonio Rinaldi. The gates were the first object built by the Italian architect in Russia. The composition of the structure is based on the contrast between massive pylons and a light tower crowning the gates. The octagonal tower is topped with a tall slender spire with a weather vane bearing the construction date — 1757. The archway was fitted with gate leaves made of intersecting forged strips, resembling trellis grilles. The very proportional and distinctive Honorary Gates are a unique small architectural monument, unparalleled in the suburbs of Saint Petersburg.
For many years, the Honorary Gates were neglected, and the wrought iron gate leaves were removed from their hinges and stored away. As part of a comprehensive restoration program for the palace and park ensemble buildings, the Honorary Gates were restored.
The palace for Peter the Third was built simultaneously with the fortress, between 1758 and 1762. It is a small two-story pavilion of almost cubic shape, crowned with a balustrade. The palace's plan is square, with one corner cut off in an arc. This part of the building is its main facade — thanks to the cut corner, the palace is visible from three sides at once, which visually makes it larger and more massive.
The overall layout of the palace has been preserved in its original form. There is no ceremonial enfilade of rooms designed for formal receptions. The rooms are arranged around the perimeter of the building. A spiral granite staircase leads to the second floor.
The first-floor rooms of the palace, lacking decorative finishes, were service rooms in the 18th century. The second floor, containing six rooms, represents authentic mid-18th-century decor. In the palace's main hall — the Picture Gallery — the main decorative element is the tapestry-like hanging of paintings from the 17th–18th centuries by European masters.
The decoration of the Picture Gallery, the study, and the bedroom is unique — lacquer paintings located on wall panels, door and window reveals, and on the doors themselves. They were executed in the Chinese style by the fortress craftsman Fedor Vlasov.
Antonio Rinaldi, as the palace architect, was also the decorator of its interiors. In particular, the ceiling stucco work in the second-floor rooms was made according to his sketches. The palace was the architect's first independent work in Russia, where he first tried many techniques he later used, including the famous "Rinaldi flower."
During the Great Patriotic War, museum valuables that were not evacuated were stored in the palace.
In the mid-1960s, the tapestry-like hanging of paintings in the Picture Gallery was recreated, having been lost at the end of the 18th century. After that, a museum opened under the modern name "Palace of Peter III."
Near Petersstadt, in the Karosta River valley, Rinaldi laid out a miniature Petrovsky Park, fitting the palace's scale. It was adorned with cascades, wooden staircases, and pavilions with sculptures and observation platforms, a wooden Chinese house, an Hermitage, and a Menagerie. All of this, barely surviving until the end of the 18th century, fell into disrepair and was dismantled in 1798. Today, nothing but the palace and the Honorary Gates, resembling a triumphal arch with a transparent lantern and a tall spire above it, remind us of the once fully functioning model military settlement not so long ago.
Sources:
Naum Sindalovsky: Legends of Petersburg Gardens and Parks
https://peterhofmuseum.ru/objects/oranienbaum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranienbaum_(palace_and_park_ensemble)
