Royal Pastimes

About museum

In 2014 the historical and cultural project "Royal Pastimes" was opened on Palace Square in Peterhof. Its eight halls present festivals and entertainments that were an important part of court life from the time of Peter I to Nicholas II. This is the first project of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve to use museum objects together with multimedia technologies. In the museum you can see Peter I at work, an 18th-century theatre, a miniature of the Lower Park, the Tsar's Mill, the Prikaznoy House and a Peterhof celebration with illumination. The final halls display toys and amusements from different generations of the imperial family: bicycles, including Alexander II’s "Kostotryas" (the "Bone-shaker") and Alexander III’s "Spider". The building is adapted for visitors in wheelchairs. In each hall voices, rustles, birds and music help visitors travel back in time.