PHOTO: I have visited the ruins of the Lower Dacha on more than one occasion over the years. If you look closely, you can see inscribed “Welcome to Hell”, inscribed in English over the entranceway

Back in September of this year the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve (GMZ) announced that it is working on a new concept for the restoration of the Lower Dacha in the Alexandria Park. This is indeed good news for those of us who thought that the museum had abandoned the idea altogether.

During an interview with the Interfax News Agency, the museum-reserve’s director, Roman Kovrikov, said: “The restoration of the Lower Dacha will be a very large and very long process. We are now preparing a pre-design concept. By the end of the year, we plan to complete this stage.”

At present, the scientific and design documentation of the project has been prepared, including comprehensive and archaeological surveys. Priority emergency work was carried out to dismantle the rubble of ruined buildings and structures of the Lower Dacha.

He added that then a restoration project will be developed within the next few years.

“This is the last unrestored summer residence of the last emperor. The Tsesarevich was born in this dacha, Nicholas II signed a large number of historical documents there,” the director of the museum added.

Kovrikov said that the concept provides not only for the restoration of the building, the surrounding area and the pier, but also for the creation of a museum.

PHOTO: early 20th century view of the Lower Dacha
and it’s beautifully landscaped gardens

Recall that a small dacha based on the design of an Italian villas was built in Peterhof for Nicholas II in the mid-1880s, with an extension (the Children’s Half) added in 1895-97.

the Lower Dacha served as a summer residence for Nicholas II and his family. It was here that three of the Tsar’s children were born: Maria (1899), Anastasia (1901) and Alexei (1904). It was also at the Lower Dacha that in 1914, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto of Russia’s entry into the First World War.

After the revolution, the former Imperial residence became a museum (from 1927-36), and then a rest house for members of the NKVD [the USSR’s interior ministry and secret police]. It was badly damaged during the Second World War, then blown up by the local Soviet in the 1960s. The palace has remained in a state of ruin ever since.

PHOTO: former gatehouse and iron-grill fence of the Lower Dacha

Aside from the ruins, the only surviving building of the Lower Dacha complex is the gatehouse and iron-grille gate, situated at the entrance to Znamenka, the former estate of Grand Dukes Nikolai and Peter Nikolaevich. The yellow and red brick colours of the gatehouse reflect that of the Lower Dacha. The iron-grille gate is also the original.

PHOTO: parishioners pray at an Orthodox cross installed in memory of
Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, intalled at the ruins of the Lower Dacha

Every year, on 12th August (O.S 30th July), the anniversary of the birth of Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, parishoners of the nearby Church of the Passion-Bearer Tsesarevich Alexei come to the ruins of the Lower Dacha.

The celebration begins with the Divine Liturgy in the newly built Church of the Passion-Bearer Tsesarevich Alexei. Following the Divine Liturgy, parishioners take part in a Cross Procession to the ruins of the Lower Dacha, where Alexei was born in 1904. A moleben was served with an akathist to the Holy Passion-Bearers, at the large wooden Orthodox cross, installed near the Lower Dacha.

The Cross Procession then proceeded to the Cottage Palace, where in 1994, a monument to St. Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich was installed in the garden. A flower-laying ceremony takes place at the monument.

PHOTO: view from the Cottage Palace of the Gulf of Finland. The
ruins of the Lower Dacha are a 15-20 minute walk from the palace

view of the Gulf of Finland, taken from the Cottage Palace, situated in the Alexandria Park, Peterhof. During the reign of Nicholas II, the Cottage Palace served as the summer residence of his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

From the Cottage Palace, a path leads down to the shoreline of the Gulf of Finland, the Lower Dacha is about 1-1/2 km. – a 15-20 minute walk in the Alexandria Park at Peterhof.

PHOTO: in recent years, a fence was installed to keep curious visitors (like the author of this article) out. A Russian-language sign is tells passersby of the existence of the former summer residence of Russia’s last Tsar and his family

FURTHER READING

First tourist group visits Lower Dacha of Nicholas II in Peterhof (2019) + PHOTOS

© Paul Gilbert. 5 November 2026