Tauride Palace

Tauride Palace is one of the prominent monuments of the Russian classicism of the XVIII century. The palace was built in 1783-1789 by architect I. Starov by the decree of the empress Catherine II for her minion Prince G. Potemkin, who in 1787 joined Crimea to Russian Empire and was awarded with the title of Duke of Tauride. That is why the palace was called Tauride. After Potemkin’s death the palace became one of the favorite residents of Catherine II. In 1906-1910 the State Duma was situated here. During the Soviet times the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the 7th Congress of the RCP(b) and the Second World Congress of the Comintern were held in the Tauride Palace. Nowadays here the headquarters of the Inter-parlamentary Assembly of CIS is situated. Also there is the Saint-Petersburg branch of the International TV and radio company “Peace”.

The building of the Tauride Palace is the central two-storey edifice with six-columned portico topped with the flat cupola on the not high drum. The smooth walls with high windows are decorated with entablature of the strict design with the frieze from triglyph. The central part of the building is joined with the two-storey buildings, bounding the wide main entrance, by one-storey galleries. The inner decoration amazes with its beauty: behind the main hall there is the richly decorated rotunda joined with the White Column Hall by the wide doorway, behind the opened double colonnade there is the winter garden. The main rooms of the palace, such as Gallery Hall, Gobelin living room, Sofa room, China Hall, preserved their polychrome decoration of the walls, plafonds, fireplaces and figured stoves.

In 2010 the project “Potemkinskiye Nights” was represented in the Tauride Palace. Regularly the classic music concerts by outstanding musicians are held here. You may enjoy the performances of such ensembles as “Soloists of Catherine the Great”, “Musica Petropolitana” and “Prattica Terza”. In 2011 specially for this project the 24-register organ was placed in the Cupola Hall of the Tauride Palace.