Aviaries, Bird pavilion in Lower Park of Peterhof, Russia

The Aviaries are two twelve-sided wooden pavilions with domed roofs, built in 1721–1722 to designs by Nicolò Michetti. One stands beside the Monplaisir Alley, the other near the Sun Fountain on the Menagerie Pond. Wide, small-paned semicircular windows light the interiors; the walls were once faced with tufa, shells and iron-smelting slag.

The two pavilions were built in 1721–1722 to a design by architect Nicolò Michetti, with minor deviations from his plan. In 1774–1776 the eastern aviary was incorporated into a wooden bathhouse by Yury Felten, and its tufa facing was replaced with rectangular panels. The bathhouse was dismantled in 1926, the pavilion kept. Both structures suffered in the war; the western one was restored in 1959, the eastern long remained without exterior decoration.

The name comes from the French volière, a birdhouse. Songbirds were kept in gilded copper cages inside the pavilions, which were lit as brightly as possible for them. The painter Louis Caravaque decorated the interior with Diana and Actaeon and with ornaments of open flowers and leaves.

The west pavilion stands across the Monplaisir Alley from the palace; the east one faces the Sun Fountain across the Menagerie Pond, closing the Menagerie Garden ensemble. Both are exterior structures in the Lower Park, so plan the walk between them around the pond. The east pavilion long lacked its outer decoration, restored only later than the west one, rebuilt in 1959.

The birds were kept in gilded copper cages, and the pavilions' walls were faced with tufa, shells and "izgar" (cast-iron smelting waste) to stress their link with nature. The interior paintings by Louis Caravaque showed the mythical hunters Diana and Actaeon among flowers and leaves.