The largely forgotten Belvedere Palace stands on a hill in the Meadow Park at Peterhof, overlooking the Gulf of Finland.
The Belvedere was built in the middle of the 19th century at the behest of Emperor Nicholas I, who personally made a sketch of the future palace and handed it over to the court architect Andrei Stackenschneider.
Construction began in 1853, but the following year it had to be suspended due to problems with the supply of Italian marble columns. The palace was completed in 1856, one year after the death of Nicholas I.
The Belvedere Palace, is slowly being restored. These photos by Lilia Pavlova, show the progress so far.
