The Lower Park stretches for several kilometers along the Gulf of Finland occupying an area of about 102 hectares. Besides a great number of various fountains, there are many pavilions and small palaces at the park.
The Grand Cascade descends from the Peterhof Palace to the Lower Park. There the fountain cascade is enclosed by two Voronikhin colonnades. The Sea Channel starting at the Samson and Lion fountain is between the colonnades. The Channel, which was navigable under Peter the Great, flows into the Gulf of Finland.
Totally, the Lower Park has 150 fountains. The most famous of them are in the east of the park: Chess Mountain (1730), Pyramid (1723), Sun (1765), Triton (1726), Lion Cascade (1854), and two Roman fountains (1739). Apart from fountains, there are open air cages, the Conservatory and the Labyrinth at the Lower Park.
The Marly Palace is in the west of the Lower Park. The Marly Palace is on the shore of a square pond of the same name. On the side of the Gulf of Finland the palace is shielded by a big mound. The Marly Palace was built by the order of Peter I and was intended for the accommodation of noble men who stayed in Peterhof. But later it served a storage for various things related to Peter the Great.
Peter the Great had the Hermitage pavilion built near the landing. In those years such small pavilions came in fashion in Europe. Servants and kitchen were on the ground floor while the owner of the estate and his closest friends were on the first floor. This pavilion became the prototype of all such buildings in the other estates of Russia.
