THE GRANITE TERRACE
For three decades during the 18th century there was a Sled Hill in place of the present Granite Terrace. The Sled Hill was an effective and complex site for entertainment. The central two-story stone pavilion of the Sled Hill was designed by the architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. Its facades were decorated with columns, pilasters, plaster moldings, gilt vases and statues. The octagonal hall in the center of the pavilion was topped with a cupola supporting a statue. Two small round halls (a dining room and a game room) were located on either side of the central hall. Two round platforms were added to the central part of the pavilion with doors leading from the top floor of the pavilion. From these platforms it was possible to slide down the man-made hill in special mechanical sleighs. The sleighs traveled along two metal strips secured to the wooden base of the platform, i.e. along the rails. The technical part of the Sled Hill, which involved calculating constructions and allowable turns in the sled routes was developed by the Russian 18th century scientist A. K. Nartov. Construction of the building was initiated in 1754 and completed in 1757. In 1765 the architect Vasily Neyelov added a third track to the existing tracks. One of the tracks was intended for sledding in the winter, and the other two for the summer.
Between 1792 and 1795, the Sled Hill was taken apart and the architect Charles Cameron began construction of a large gallery with thirty two columns of Pudost stone in its place. At the end of the 1790s, this gallery was demolished and the materials were used in the construction of the Mikhailov Palace in St. Petersburg.
At the start of the 1800s, it was decided to build a large granite terrace in the space previously occupied by the Sled Hill and gallery. The plans were created in 1809 by the architect Luigi Rusca.
The Granite Terrace faces the Large Pond. Its walls are decorated with large Doric columns without bases. The columns themselves, which bear the balustrade, were cut from gray granite, and the capitals of pink granite. There are staircases on either side of the terrace. The surface of the pink granite walls was cut with shallow niches framed by archivolts made of blocks of gray granite.
Luigi Rusca wanted to decorate the terrace with two marble statues. This plan was not carried out. Galvanized copies of ancient sculptures "Venus of Medici," "Fawn with Goat Kid," "Apoxyomena" and others were placed on the bases of the balustrades in 1850. This collection made of copper using the technique of galvanization invented in 1838 by the Russian physicist B. S. Jacobi was gathered from the foundry of the Imperial Academy of the Arts. The sculptures have been preserved and today occupy their historical spots. At the same time the Granite Terrace was under construction in 1810, Luigi Rusca built the Large Granite Pier on the bank of the Large Pond. This is a very simple platform with steps, four round granite blocks and bars. The pier was decorated in the 1850s by galvanized statues of the Borghese Wrestler and the Disk Thrower. The statues have survived to this day. At the turn of the 20th century, there were flowers planted on the slope. The idea of creating a decorative parterre and flower-beds before the Granite Terrace was recently revived and executed. The plans for the parterre were developed by the architect T. B. Dubyago.