Mystery Photo 5: Peterhof, Russia

Mystery Photo 5 -- Peterhof, Russia (Petrodvorets)

    
    The Mystery Photo 5 was of a classical European Palace Complex built by Peter the Great across the Bay of Finland from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Several of the buildings are built right on the Bay of Finland. Over time both Peter the Great, his wife Catherine and then succeeding royalty spent time here at Peterhof.

      These two photos (above and below) show the Monplaisir Palace. This is the first Palace that Peter the Great originally built on these grounds. Later after the Grand Palace and other dining palaces, etc were built, this Palace was used primarily by his wife Catherine who modified and added to it. It was also later used by Katherine the Great after her husband, Peter III was deposed.

     Following are several photos from inside the Monplaisir Palace. It has lots of wood, mostly oak, gorgeous chandeliers and a very large collection of 17th century antique furniture, much of it from the private collection of Peter the Great.

        Peter the Great reigned for 42 years over Russia, from the time he was 11 years old. Born in 1672, as he grew into majority, he became more and more influenced by European ideals. He traveled several times to European capitols and attempted to forge alliances that would help him and his own country. He also fought wars with the Turkish Empire and with the Swedish Empire. These did not always work out for Peter but in the 18th Century he was eventually named Emperor of the Russian Empire though he himself disavowed this title of Emperor. His European influence comes out in the construction of Peterhof. The word means Peter's Court, and shows some of the German influence in the area as well. Later the name was Russianized to Petrodvorets. Peter was married twice. His second wife was Catherine who was eventually named Empress, Catherine (not Katherine the Great, who was the wife of Czar Peter III later in the 18th century).  Her influence is also strong at Petrodvorets. Some buildings were modified or added to at her behest. Peter died at age 57 after ruling for 42 years. But Peterhof was utilized and slightly modified by later royalty all the way up to Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution in 1917. The buildings and grounds were highly damaged by the Germans in World War II but they were among the first to be restored after the Great War. Thanks to Russian Army engineers and 1000 volunteers the buildings and grounds were restored to their original beauty by 1947.

     The following three photos show the lovely gardens and some of the fountains that are scattered around the grounds.

Below is the Aviary. 

     Peterhof has been called the "Russian Verseilles." However, I have been at Verseilles also in my lifetime and I agree with those who say that this pronouncement actually might be an insult to Petrohof. The grounds and gardens are certainlyextremely beautiful, and I think more picturesque than Verseilles. Peterhof is also very well known for its magic with water. There is an extensive fountain system throughout the parks surrounded by statuary, terraces, and patios with marvelous stonework. This system serves as the showcase for the beautiful palaces and buildings at Peterhof. We took the hydrofoil across the Bay of Finland which lands right on the property. This manner of entrance allows the visitor to amble up the broad entrance avenue beside a long reflecting pool and approach the Grand Palace from a gorgeous perspective. One enters the main fountain courtyard and from there can amble in various directions to view the several other small palaces on the grounds. 

Below is the Grand Palace and its front terrace and fountain display.

     The above photo is taken from the front terrace of the Grand Palace, looking out over the fountain display, and down the long reflecting pool right to the Bay of Finland which is how we arrived when we came by Hydrofoil from Saint Petersburg. This was certainly a lovely place to visit.

The Spy Network!

Russian Spies in the Family! (Names changed to protect our relatives and friends)
    

    We recently had more overnight Israeli house guests. This time it was a first cousin, once removed to my husband, Amos, on his father's side of the family. Emma, the cousin, and her husband Dimitri grew up in Communist Bessarabia, which is now the independent country of Moldova. They lived in the capitol city, Kishinev, and immigrated to Israel in the 1980s. Dimitri was more or less a favorite "nephew" of my father-in-law Moshe. Moshe helped Dimitri and Emma get settled in Israel and helped Dimitri get a good managing job with the electric company in Israel. Emma is a pediatrician who practices in Israel. They now have two grown sons and grandchildren. We had become friendly with Dmitri and Emma and had hosted them before in our home in Milwaukee. They seemed a very nice couple and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. We had even traveled with them from Virginia where we were all at a family bat mitzvah to our home in Milwaukee, through Gettysburg and Niagara Falls and other stops along the way. On that trip we stopped in downtown Chicago on the way home, and we took them up on the Sears Tower to see the view. Then Emma asked us if we could leave them in downtown Chicago and they would catch a bus up to Milwaukee at the end of the day. They wanted to do some shopping, she said. We offered to wait for them and go entertain ourselves for a while and pick them up at a set time. "No," she said that wouldn't do. They insisted on staying by themselves in the big city ostensibly "to shop."

     Well, it was a few years after this trip together, that we learned the unimaginable. Dimitri was indicted for spying for Russia, and agreed to cooperate and tell all about his years of gathering information from Israel, perhaps some through his electric company job and relaying it to Russian authorities. Dimitri and
Emma claimed that they never passed any information that was not already known by the Russians. We never knew whether their release to be able to leave Russia and emigrate to Israel was contingent on this spying. They still had family in Russia, her brother and his offspring, and maybe the Russians would put pressure on them or punish them if the spying were to end. We never knew. There has been the recent Russian spy story of the large spy group embedded in American society. This was probably a similar situation. Like the US spy ring, it did not seem that Dimitri and Emma made a lot of money for their efforts. They did like to go out evenings and drink or party with friends, yes, but they didn't live like wealthy people. And Emma particularly worked very long hours as a doctor. At the time, we did not think that money was a motivation for this behavior.

     This conviction nearly did Moshe in; in fact my mother-in-law blamed his final heart attack on the stress it induced. Dimitri was sentenced to 8 years in prison.  Emma was not indicted and she continued to take care of the two sons and work very hard as a pediatrician. When we spoke with her on the phone, she usually seemed overwhelmed. Was it worth it? Toward the end of those 8 years Dimitri was allowed out of jail to work during the day and then returned to jail at night. He was released completely a couple years ago. For the first couple years Dimitri was not allowed to leave Israel.

     Now finally, they were allowed out of Israel and they decided to come to the States on a leisure tour. They came to our home on Saturday and we got the Sendik's prime rib supper to have at home that night. On Sunday we went out for brunch at Roots in Milwaukee with its wonderful overview of the city of Milwaukee. Then we drove the couple around downtown showing them views, over Lake Michigan, of the Calatrava Art Museum, and of the River Walk. This time again, as happened years ago, Emma asked for us to leave them alone downtown to walk the River Walk, and shop. This reminded us of the occurrence years ago in Chicago. Emma had asked us a couple times while driving them around the city, "Are we in downtown now?" Were they meeting someone in "downtown Milwaukee" to pass information? I doubt it. I just think that Emma is kind of a nervous lady and she just needs to be on her own. She doesn't seem to have a lot of patience to be shown things by someone else. Well, at least, I hope that is the excuse.

     The recent US Russian spy ring that was arrested, and deported back to Russia very quickly has similar descriptions to our relatives. "Nice young couple."  "Raising children"  "Living in Suburbia of the US" "Stylish people"  No one suspected these people in the US of being spies. Likewise I don't think anyone suspected our relatives of such activities. Certainly we didn't. However, Israeli authorities knew there were a lot of these Russian immigrants that came in the 1970s and 1980s who were doing this. They even allowed such people to come forward and confess at one time during those decades, to be pardoned without any penalty. They knew Russia was coercing many of these people with pressure on family members who remained in Russia. Dimitri did not come forward at that time. We don't know why. Had they gotten used to the small amounts of money coming in?  Therefore when he was caught, he was prosecuted to the full law in Israel. My husband and I talk about this at times. Dimitri and Ella's oldest son was career military for a while in Israel. I often wonder if his parents' activities held back his career at all. Some of the Russian spies in the US had children as well. It was unknown if they were actually their children or not, or other actors for the role. One couple may have been faking their marriage but they had two small children that were probably theirs. Needless to say our experience raises the question of many more living incognito among us who are not who they seem. Hmm! Since our visitors, I wonder if our phone is tapped by the FBI.