We will not leave Shpalernaya Street and stay in the center of St. Petersburg for a while. On this street in a few minutes walk you can see a magnificent building, built in the style of architectural classicism. This is the Tauride Palace. Behind the palace is a large green massif with greenhouses, pedestrian paths, lawns, ponds and small pavilions with sculptures - this is the Tauride Garden. The palace building was built in the period from 1783 to 1789 according to the project of the Russian architect Ivan Yegorovich Starov and was intended as the residence of Prince Grgory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky.
The Tauride Palace was built by the order of Empress Catherine II for her favorite, Prince Grigory Potemkin. For the construction of the palace was spent for those times a huge sum of 400,000 rubles in gold.
During the military campaign of Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin from 1782 to 1783, the Crimean Khan Shahin Girey acknowledged his defeat and was forced to renounce power. In 1783, the Crimean Khanate became part of Russia and in 1784 was named as the Taurian Region. In honor of the victory and annexation of the Crimea (Tauris) to Russia, Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin received the title of the most brilliant prince of the "Tavrichesky". Along with the title of Potemkin was presented in 1787 and the palace, which was named Tavrichesky in honor of the owner.
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Painting by Benjamin Peterssen "View of the Tauride Garden in St. Petersburg" 1797.
Potemkin rarely appeared in the palace, as he was busy with government affairs in the south of the Russian Empire to manage Novorysia. Only in the last year of his life in 1791 he visited the palace, where everything was already in charge of the new favorite of Catherine II - Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov.
After the death of the Most Serene Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, all the property was attempted to steal and take away to his possession by two persons - the adjutant, Garnovsky and Secretary Gribovsky. The heirs of Potemkin learned about this and stopped the theft.
After all these events, Catherine II ordered to nationalize the Tauride Palace and take it to the treasury.
In 1793 - 1794 the Tauride Palace was rebuilt, the building of the theater and the house church was added.
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The premise of the theater of the Tauride Palace, which by the decree of the Duma of St. Petersburg was converted into a library.
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House church with the altar of the Tauride Palace.
After climbing the throne of Emperor Paul the First (the son of Catherine II), by his decree of 1797 the robbers Garnovsky and Gribovsky were brought to trial, the property of the Tauride Palace was transferred to Mikhailovsky Castle, and the palace was given to the Konnogvardeisky Regiment under the barracks.
After the murder of Emperor Paul the First in the Mikhailovsky Castle in 1801, the Tauride Palace was restored as the residence of the emperor. The reconstruction of the interiors of the palace was carried out by such famous architects and masters as: Luigi Rusca, Carl Ivanovich Rossi and Vasily Petrovich Stasov. The Tauride Palace again assumed the appearance of luxury and splendor.
In the modern period, the building of the Tauride Palace served purely state-political purposes. So at the beginning of the 20th century the State Duma was placed here. For these purposes, the interior of the Tauride Palace was changed and rebuilt in 1906 - 1910.
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Hall for the meeting of the State Duma in 1914.
After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies were held here.
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Meeting of the Petrograd Soviet. 1917 year.
During the Soviet era, the All-Union Agricultural Communist University was located in the building of the Tauride Palace since 1930, and subsequently until 1990 the Leningrad Higher Party School.
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The Tauride Palace in the late 1970s.
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In the post-Soviet period, this building was transferred to the disposal of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS member states.
The Tauride Palace is today one of the most beautiful architectural complexes of St. Petersburg. Together with the Tauride Garden, the Tauride Palace is a magnificent historical ensemble of masterpieces from the late 18th century.
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This is how the Tauride Palace appears today.
Thank you for attention. I await you again on my excursions around St. Petersburg.