Description of the attraction
The Samson fountain, whose full name sounds like Samson tearing apart the lion's mouth, is located in the central part of the Grand Cascade basin in the Lower Park. A statue of the biblical hero Samson wrestling with a lion is installed on a 3-meter granite pedestal, and an unusually high stream of water bursts out of the lion's mouth, torn apart by the hero. At the feet of the statue there are 8 gilded dolphins-fountains, and in 4 niches at the base of the pedestal, streams of water flow from 4 lion heads, which are the personification of the 4 cardinal points.
The Samson Fountain is the largest and most powerful fountain in the Grand Cascade. The jet of water from his water cannon reaches a height of almost 21 meters.
The Samson fountain appeared in Peterhof in 1735 in honor of the 25th anniversary of the victory of the Russian troops over the Swedish in the Poltava battle. The choice of the subject for the composition of the monument was not accidental. During the Northern War, the image of a lion on the Swedish coat of arms was a symbol of the enemy, and the Battle of Poltava took place on June 27, 1709, on the day of St. Sampson. It is for this reason that the biblical Samson, victorious over the lion, could most fully and artistically describe the victory of Russia over Sweden.
The sculpture was originally made of lead. The model was developed by the sculptor B. Rastrelli. The idea of the pedestal, according to some sources, belonged to the architect M. Zemtsov.
In 1802, the lead sculpture, which had pretty much eroded, was replaced with a bronze one. It was molded according to the model of M. Kozlovsky. The architect A. Voronikhin created a new pedestal with semicircular niches. They contained gilded lion heads made by the sculptor M. Dumnin.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans stole the statue of Samson. There is a version that bronze was used for military purposes.
It was a matter of honor to restore the legendary fountain. In 1947, the sculptor V. Simonov, together with his assistant N. Mikhailov, carefully studied the pre-war photographs of the fountain and created a model, according to which the sculpture was cast in bronze at the Leningrad Monumentskulptura plant. In September 1947, the Samson Tearing the Lion's Jaws fountain was reopened after restoration work. In 1956, 8 bronze dolphin fountains were recreated from the surviving model.
At the end of December 2010, the statue was dismantled and sent for restoration, and in April 2011 it was returned to its place.
There is a legend that "Samson" was built not in 1735, but 10 years earlier - back in 1725, during the life of Catherine I, who, as it were, expressed a desire, as soon as she ascended the throne, to immortalize Russia's victory in the Battle of Poltava with an allegorical image of Samson killing a lion. Other legends tell that, allegedly, the fountain was erected at all under Peter the Great, who dedicated "Samson" to the great victory of the Russian fleet at Gangut.
