The palace, originally named the "Horse Guards House," was built as a country residence for the all-powerful nobleman of the 18th century, favorite and closest aide to Empress Catherine II, Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin. Today, the Tauride Palace is one of the most recognizable landmarks of St. Petersburg. It served as a residence for notable historical figures, the Provisional Government, and was even used as barracks for the Horse Guards Regiment.
The first owner of the Tauride Palace was His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Potemkin, Catherine II’s favorite. He was the governor-general of the Novorossiysk, Azov, and Astrakhan provinces but often visited St. Petersburg. Eventually, staying at the Winter Palace became inconvenient for him, so in 1783 he initiated the construction of his own palazzo. After the palace was built, he soon decided to sell it to the treasury; however, in 1791 the mansion returned to its owner: Catherine II gifted it to Potemkin as a token of gratitude for the capture of the Turkish fortress Izmail.
The palace is the work of architect Ivan Starov, who studied alongside Potemkin at the Moscow University gymnasium. Starov built not just a house for the prince but a true urban estate with a luxurious park. The palace’s core consists of four main rooms — the Dome Hall, the Large Gallery (Catherine Hall), the vestibule, and the winter garden. At the time of its construction, the Large Gallery was the most spacious palace room in the Russian capital: the hall was 74.5 meters long and 14.9 meters wide. The winter garden, with its rare plants, also impressed contemporaries.
For example, Gavriil Derzhavin wrote about it as follows: “At the first step, one sees a long oval hall, or rather a square, capable of comfortably accommodating five thousand people, divided lengthwise into two rows by 36 columns. It seems as if all of nature has been contained here by giant forces. Through these columns, one sees an extensive garden and buildings rising in a small space. At first glance, you might doubt and think this is the work of enchantment or, at least, painting and optics; but upon approaching closer, you see living laurels, myrtles, and other trees of blessed climates, not only growing but some bearing flowers, others laden with fruit. Under their peaceful shade, green turf spreads like velvet; there flowers bloom here and there, radiant sandy paths stretch out, hills rise, valleys descend, clearings extend, and glassy ponds shine. Spring reigns everywhere, and art competes with the charms of nature. The spirit floats in delight.”
In the depth of the ceremonial courtyard, separated from the street by a low fence (1792–1793, architect Volkov), stands the central two-story building with a six-column portico, crowned by a flat dome on a low drum; the smooth wall surfaces are pierced by tall windows and topped with an entablature of strict design with a frieze of triglyphs. The main building is connected by one-story galleries to the two-story side wings, which enclose a wide ceremonial courtyard.
Originally, the Tauride Palace faced the Neva River, from which a canal extended, ending in a harbor basin. This architectural perspective, part of the panorama of the Neva’s banks, existed until the construction of the water tower and other structures of the Central City Water Supply Station opposite the palace between 1858 and 1863.
The architectural complex of the Tauride Palace also includes the so-called gardener’s house, built in 1793–1794 (architect Volkov) for V. Guld. The main facade of the two-story central building is marked by a Doric portico, the garden facade by a semi-rotunda with a round balcony; two small wings are topped with domed towers.
Between 1783 and 1800, the Tauride Garden was laid out behind the palace by gardener V. Guld.
The exquisite modesty and simplicity of the Tauride Palace’s facades contrasted with the exceptional luxury and splendor of its interior decoration. Behind the main vestibule was a richly decorated stucco rotunda, connected by a wide opening to the White Column Hall, behind the open double colonnade of which was the winter garden. The ceremonial rooms (Picture Hall, Tapestry Drawing Room, Lounge, Chinese Hall) have partially preserved artistic finishes (polychrome wall and ceiling paintings, fireplaces, ornamental stoves).
The palace was built by order of Catherine II for her favorite,
His Serene Highness Prince G. A. Potemkin. About 400,000 gold rubles were spent on the construction and decoration of the palace. Later, the palace received its name from the title of Prince of Taurida, which was granted to him in 1787 after the annexation of Crimea (Taurida) to the Russian Empire. One of its adornments was an antique statue of Venus Taurica, brought to Russia during Peter I’s reign.
While managing Novorossiya, Prince Potemkin rarely visited the palace. In the last year of his life, in the spring of 1791, he came to win the Empress’s heart from the young Platon Zubov. An unprecedentedly lavish celebration was held at the Tauride Palace:
All the luxury usual for the prince, all the magic with which he knew how to surround himself, were surpassed that day. Catherine was received not as a sovereign but as a goddess in the now dilapidated and deserted Tauride Palace. Magnificent tapestry fabrics unfolded before her, evoking the reflective story of Haman and Mordecai, while choirs of Derzhavin’s poems (whose muse, now belonging to the new favorite, betrayed him this time) explained these images. A vain effort; the next day Catherine appeared as if she had taken this magical celebration for a farewell evening.
In 1792, a year after the death of its first owner, it was renamed the Tauride Palace by Catherine II and, along with the garden, transferred to the treasury to settle the debts of the late Prince Potemkin.
After Potemkin’s death, when the Tauride Palace was repurchased by Catherine, the military leader Alexander Suvorov lived in the palace for some time.
She loved to visit here in her last years. During the 1793–1794 reconstruction, a theater hall was equipped in the eastern wing, and a house church in the western wing.
After Catherine II’s death in 1796, the throne was inherited by Paul I, who on April 11, 1799, issued a decree transferring the Tauride Palace to the Life Guards Horse Regiment barracks. Within days, the palace was ransacked, and the luxurious gallery was turned into stables and a riding hall.
Potemkin’s steward Garnovsky and Zubov’s secretary Gribovsky took all the furnishings of the abandoned palace for themselves: statues, paintings, furniture, and even building materials. Upon learning this, the heirs stopped the looting through the police, intercepting barges loaded with goods on the Fontanka River, as Derzhavin wrote:
And, ah, the treasures of Taurida
You load onto barges to pyramids
Amid police quarrels.
In 1797, by order of Paul I, Garnovsky and Gribovsky were tried for embezzlement, the Tauride Palace’s property was moved to the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the palace itself was handed over to the Horse Guards Regiment as barracks.
It seemed that the Tauride Palace, of which no trace of former splendor remained, had ended its existence as a royal residence. However, the accession of Alexander I marked its revival. In the summer of 1802, the hussar regiment was moved out of the palace, and Alexander I issued a decree to restore the Tauride Palace to its former state.
In the 19th century, after the completion of repair and restoration works, the palace was mainly used by the royal family for various celebrations and for receiving high-ranking guests and ambassadors. For example, during diplomatic visits to Russia, the Persian prince Hosrov Mirza and the Swedish and Norwegian crown prince Franz Joseph stayed at the Tauride Palace. The hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, Count P. H. Wittgenstein, also lived here when visiting St. Petersburg, and in 1826 the writer Karamzin settled in the palace while working on the completion of the "History of the Russian State."
Immediately after Paul’s death in 1801, the Tauride Palace was restored as one of the imperial residences. The restoration of the palace interiors was overseen by L. I. Ruska (in 1802–1803), later also by K. Rossi and V. P. Stasov.
In the mid and late 19th century, the palace had no strictly defined purpose. Sometimes members of the imperial family without their own "named" palace lived here. From time to time, honored guests of the Russian emperor, not only foreigners, were accommodated here. For example, in 1826 Maria Feodorovna invited the court historiographer Karamzin to live in the palace; he also died here.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, public events, balls, and other celebrations were held in the Tauride Palace, such as the Tauride Exhibition of Old Portraits (1905), which resulted in a multi-volume publication.
During the February Revolution, the palace, as the building of the main political force of the revolution — the Duma — became the center of unrest in the city. The Provisional Committee of the State Duma appeared here, which later formed the Provisional Government,
Until its move to Smolny in August 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) of the Soviets held sessions in the Tauride Palace.
On January 5 (18), 1918, the All-Russian Constituent Assembly held its first and last session in the Tauride Palace.
In January 1918, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets took place in the Tauride Palace; in March 1918, the Seventh Congress of the RCP(b); and in July 1920, the Second Congress of the Comintern.
Initially, the palace was called the Horse Guards House because it was located in the settlement of the Horse Guards Regiment, in which Potemkin once served. Its current name, Tauride Palace, was given after Potemkin’s death by order of Catherine II. This commemorated the annexation of Taurida (Crimea) in 1787, which was largely made possible by Potemkin himself. In 1918, after the assassination of the famous revolutionary Moisei Uritsky, the palace was renamed in his honor. However, this name did not stick, and the historical name Tauride was soon restored.
In the 1930s, the Tauride Palace housed the All-Union Communist Agricultural University named after I. V. Stalin.
After the Great Patriotic War, the Tauride Palace was restored, and until 1990 it housed the Leningrad Higher Party School. In the post-Soviet period, it was transferred to the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS member states. The building also houses the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA). From 2000 to 2014, it also housed the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Community (MPEEC). Due to the presence of parliamentary bodies of international organizations in the post-Soviet space, St. Petersburg and the Tauride Palace positioned themselves as a Parliamentary Center (CIS, EurAsEC, CSTO). Several off-site sessions of the State Duma and the Federation Council were held in the building.
In February 2010, the project "Potemkin Evenings" was launched at the Tauride Palace — regular concerts of early music performed by the best musicians specializing in historical (authentic) performance of past music and their students. European Baroque and Classicism music, as well as forgotten masterpieces of 18th-century Russian music, are performed here. The project is organized with the participation of the "Tauride Chapel" and the EARLYMUSIC festival. Musicians from ensembles such as the Soloists of Catherine the Great, Musica Petropolitana, and Prattica Terza can be heard at these concerts. In early 2011, a pipe organ with 24 registers, made in Barcelona by the Grenzing company, was installed in the Dome Hall of the palace.
Sources:
https://www.culture.ru/materials/178387/samye-interesnye-fakty-o-tavricheskom-dvorce-triumf-russkogo-klassicizma
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таврический_дворец
