Gilded Statue ‘Samson Rending open the Jaws of the Lion.'
The fountains of the Grand Cascade are located below the grotto and on either side of it. Their waters flow into a semicircular pool, the terminus of the fountain-lined Sea Channel. In the 1730s, the large Samson Fountain was placed in this pool. It depicts the moment when Samson tears open the jaws of a lion, representing Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War, and is doubly symbolic. The lion is an element of the Swedish coat of arms, and one of the great victories of the war was won on St Samson's Day. From the lion's mouth shoots a 20-metre-high vertical jet of water, the highest in all of Peterhof. This masterpiece by Mikhail Kozlovsky was looted by the invading Germans during the Second World War; see "History" below. A replica of the statue was installed in 1947. The Samson Fountain is supplied by a special aqueduct, over four km in length, drawing water and pressure from a high-elevation source.
Size: 3413px × 5119px
Location: Peterhof/Petrodvoret Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
Photo credit: © Bill Heinsohn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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