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On September 20 and 21, the Autumn Fountain Festival took place in Peterhof’s Lower Park, drawing more than 39,000 people. The event culminated in a multimedia show at the Grand Cascade, created by the company dreamlaser.
“Our festival is a tribute to the museum workers of that terrible wartime period—the young men and women who, in two to three months, managed to prepare Peterhof for evacuation, sheltered and preserved its treasures, and, upon returning, revived it. Our memory tends to forget, but our task is to keep telling this story. Only in this way can we preserve our cultural heritage,” said Roman Kovrikov, Director General of the Peterhof Museum-Reserve.
The main protagonist of the production was Peterhof itself—not merely an architectural ensemble, but a living Guardian of Russia’s history, which traveled the path from marshland to a symbol of grandeur.
The performance was divided into several parts. At the beginning, viewers saw ships off the shores of the Gulf of Finland, then the figure of Peter the Great and the vision of creating a “Russian Versailles.” Blueprints, the first fountains, and Baroque-era halls came to life on the facades, reflecting the ensemble’s flourishing.
Next came the section devoted to the Great Patriotic War: the evacuation of exhibits, the palace’s destruction, barricades in the uneasy light of searchlights. A confession was voiced by the Guardian of Peterhof—a composite figure of museum workers—about days of anxiety, pain, and self-sacrifice.
In conclusion, a many-voiced narrative of the ensemble’s rebirth awaited the audience. From the perspectives of the Guardian, a gardener, a restorer, and a fountain master came recollections of the first steps in liberated Peterhof—demining the parks, restoring interiors from archival materials, bringing back the fountain system and the statue of Samson. Threaded through these stories was the central idea: beauty cannot be destroyed; the spirit of the people is stronger than war. The climax was the scene in which the palace glowed with golden light and came alive anew.
“This project was prepared over about four months. It all began with laser scanning of the site and creating a model of the palace, after which technical specialists and concept artists planned the placement of lighting fixtures and video projectors. For the first time, the projection was done onto the slope in front of the palace, which was covered with a special material. We wanted to make something truly beautiful, so the core idea wouldn’t get lost among the large amount of equipment, and the narrative would tell the story of Peterhof’s restoration. A large team of art directors, directors, writers, and designers worked on the concept: how to make something new, how to use multimedia and a new format of digital art to tell the story of Peterhof’s revival. And I’m glad we became part of this festival,” noted Andrey Tuboltsev, co-founder and CEO of dreamlaser.