Terrace-pier
The Terrace-pier is a stone landing structure in Gatchina Palace park that extends into White Lake, featuring wide stairs on both ends reaching down to the water. Its tiered design creates different walking levels and makes the entire composition appear like an architectural extension of the palace itself.
Built in the late 1700s, the pier served as a docking point for the local fleet on White Lake under the design of architect V. Brenna. Over the centuries, it evolved from a working maritime facility into a leisure and viewing platform while remaining a core element of the palace grounds.
The name 'Terrace-pier' comes from its tiered design with different levels for walking. The two limestone lion sculptures at its edges, remnants of the original marble decorations, shape how visitors experience this place today and connect them to the aesthetic choices of its builders.
The pier offers an excellent vantage point over White Lake and is easily reached via well-maintained paths from the palace park. The wide stairs provide safe access to the water level, and there is ample space to view the historic lion sculptures or take photographs from different angles.
The two limestone lion sculptures are remnants of the pier's original decoration, which once included marble statues of muses and ornamental stone vases. Their survival while so much else disappeared makes them quiet witnesses to a more lavish past that visitors often walk past without noticing.
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