Description of the attraction
In the center of the Orangery Garden of the Peterhof palace and park complex, at the intersection of the alleys, the Orangery fountain, or Triton tearing the mouth of the sea monster, is installed. It was built in 1726 according to the plan of T. Usov. The construction of the pipeline was carried out under the leadership of P. Sualem. Water was supplied from the eastern Square Pond, located in the Upper Garden.
The construction of the fountain in this area of Peterhof was caused not only by aesthetic, but also by practical (economic) considerations: here it was necessary to have a pool from which water could be taken for watering flowers and trees in the garden. At first, the pool was surrounded by a 16-tigonal outline, after which it was simplified and replaced by a round one. In this form, the pool has survived to this day. Its diameter is 15 meters. Bordered with a profiled cordon made of light-colored stone.
In the center of the pool of the "Triton Breaking the Jaws of the Sea Monster" fountain, a dynamic sculptural composition is installed on a four-beam tuff base: bending its back covered with scales, the monster clutched its claws at Triton's leg. Triton in Greek mythology was a sea deity, the son of the god of the seas Poseidon and the Nereid Amphitrite. He was portrayed as a young man or an old man. Instead of legs, he had a fish tail. The monster is represented in the guise of a crocodile with a large fish tail. With an incredibly powerful force, the messenger of the depths breaks its toothy mouth, from which an 8-meter water jet breaks out. From the fighting opponents in fright, stretching out their necks, 4 turtles crawl away, from whose mouths two-meter jets of water beat. The sculptural group is a symbol of the victory of the Russian fleet at Gangut in July 1714.
The first sculptural ensemble installed in the fountain was called Satyr with a Snake. It was made of lead according to the model of K.-B. Rastrelli. By the end of the 18th century, the lead sculptural decoration of the fountain was dilapidated. In 1816 I. P. Martos, examining the fountain, noted that the lead group in the pool, representing a huge 2-tailed Triton, tearing the mouth of a snake, is completely broken in some places, in the corners of group 4 lead turtles are in poor condition. The sculptor suggested replacing these figures with bronze ones. But Martos' proposal was not approved, and the lead group remained in the pool, undergoing endless restoration work.
This story continued until 1875, when the fountain master K. Baltsun noted that the lead sculpture “Satyr” located in the Orangery Fountain “came from time to time in such a state that there was no longer any possibility of repairing it”.
In 1876, instead of the removed ensemble, a new one was installed, cast from lead by the electroplating method according to the sketch of Professor D. Jensen, and it began to be called "Triton with a crocodile".
During the Great Patriotic War, the fountain was destroyed. It was restored in 1956. The sculptor A. Gurzhiy based on drawings by B.-K. Rastrelli, which were preserved in the album of engineer A. Bazhenov, the sculptural group of the fountain was recreated from bronze.
