Creator of St. Petersburg and Peterhof Palace
Peter the Great of Russia
Peter the Great of Russia, also known as Emperor Peter Alexeyevich Romanov, was the powerful ruler who commissioned the building of St. Petersburg as his capital and Peterhof as his summer residence. That he chose a location so close to the sea is hardly surprising given his life-long love of the sea and his study of Naval power. In fact, it was during Peter the Great's reign that the Royal Russian Navy first came into existence just two years after he ascended to full power. During his reign, Russia regained control of the Baltic and Black Seas and built their first naval bases, including the Kronshtadt base which influenced his site choices for St. Petersburg and Peterhof.
Peter the Great ascended to the throne in 1682 at age 10. His infirm brother, Ivan V, served as co-Tsar ruled by his half-sister and regent Sophia. Preferring to design and build ships for mock sea battles rather than spend time in court, Peter the Great did not become sole ruler of Russia until Ivan V and mother both died by 1696. At the age of 24 Peter the Great set about remaking Russia to his liking, most notably beginning a 200-year long campaign to westernize and expand it. During an extended campaign through Europe beginning in 1697 to gain support for overthrowing the Ottoman ruler, Peter the Great spent several months with East India Company shipbuilders in the Netherlands, learning all he could about ship and lock construction before going home to Moscow to build his Navy.
His lifelong love of the sea made Peterhof a natural choice; water symbolized by fountains. Peter the Great spent many hours in the gardens and wall water fountains looking out to sea and supervising the activities at Kronshtadt. He was responsible for constructing many of the major buildings and fountains during his lifetime, though many of them were embellished or added to by his successors. By the time of his death in 1725, St. Petersburg was established as the capital of what had become the Russian Empire during the reign of Peter the Great. Without a living and legitimate male heir, his wife Catherine I became Empress.