The residence of Prince Grigory Potyomkin-Tavrichesky
This palace was designed by Ivan Starov in 1783-1789 as a present from Catherine the Great to her influential favourite Prince Gregory Potemkin. He had successfully annexed the Crimea (Tauris) to Russia in 1783 and was given the title of Prince of Tauris, hence the name of the palace.
The palace is a long yellow building in Classical style with the six-columned portico. Unfortunately, its magnificent interiors were not preserved until nowadays.
The Palace cultural and political life of St. Petersburg
The palace played a vital role in the 20th-century cultural and political life. In 1905, Sergei Diaghilev organized the first exhibition of Russian 18th-century portraiture here. The following year the palace hosted the first Parliament of Russia, the State Duma.
After the February revolution of 1917 in became the seat of the Provisional Government, then the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers’ Deputies. Today it is still the government building. Since the 1990s, Tauride Palace has been home to the Inter Parliament Assembly of the Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
