Umbrella (joke fountain)
The joke Fountain "Umbrella" ( Russian Зонтик ) is one of the fountains of Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg , Russia.
The water feature was built in 1796 based on a project by the architect F. Brower. A bench is arranged around a massive column. There is a wide umbrella above the bench that invites you to linger. There are 164 small tubes with holes on the edge of the screen.
During the 19th century, the umbrella was rebuilt several times. The umbrella was shaped like a mushroom (hence the second name "mushroom" ("Грибок")). The number of tubes changed several times. In 1826 there were 134, in 1868 the water flowed out of 80 pipes that formed a vertical wall of water around the edge of the umbrella. When a visitor to the park sat on the bench, the water suddenly began to flow out of the pipes and the visitor was “trapped”.
The umbrella was destroyed in World War II. Only part of the roof, a few pipes and the remains of the wooden edging survived. The water feature was restored based on drawings from the 18th century and put back into operation on September 11, 1949.
For some time now the water has been flowing continuously. The surprise effect is a thing of the past.
Web links
- Page in Russian ( Memento from August 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 59 ° 53 ′ 10.6 ″ N , 29 ° 55 ′ 9 ″ E