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A palace in Shpalernaya street
Erected on the outskirts of St.Petersburg the Tavrichesky palace has never been in the margins of history. Designed on a lavish scale, skilfully constructed it became an outstanding phenomenon literally from the very first days of its existence. In 1789, immediately on the completion of the construction the owner of the estate Fieldmarshal Count Potyomkin - Tavrichesky held such a magnificent ball in honour of Catherine II that it gave the whole of Russia something to talk about. Foreigners came to St.Petersburg specially to have a look at the wonderful creation of the Russian architect Ivan Starov. A rather low, wide and spreading two-storey building it nevertheless looks austere and well balanced. Two protruding side wings form an inner yard; the centre is marked with a six-column portico with a pediment; the building is crowned with a massive dome. And the unruffled calmness of the facade conceals the most important: two centuries of Russian history that passed against the background of the magnificent interiors. Tastes and styles changed, sovereigns died, heirs ascended the throne, one power gave way to other entailing changes in the interiors of the palace. Alas, the art, as is often the case, was sacrificed to a fleeting political triumph. . . . Thus, after Catherine II died, Paul I, to spite his mother’s memory, turned the White Column Hall of the palace into stables for the Horse Guards regiment. As the irony of fate would have it, the original name of the palace used to be the Horse Guards House as the barracks of that regiment were nearby. During the reign of Alexander I the palace was restored but many elements of the interior decor had been lost to be never recovered. During the XIX century the palace was repeatedly reconstructed, its interiors were modernised, their function changed. And still the general design of the interiors remained unchanged. Members of the royal family, foreign princes, eminent people stayed and lived in the palace. Nickolay Karamzin, a writer and a historian lived and worked here. It was here that he died in 1826. Numerous events of Russia’s past are associated with the Tavrichesky palace. At the very end of the XIX century, in 1899, it became the centre of festivities devoted to the centenary of Alexander Pushkin’s birth. And 6 years later an extraordinary historical and art exhibition of Russian portrait was organised in its halls. The marvellous interiors of the Palace were themselves a part of the exposition. Unfortunately that distinguished event brought with it the end of the cultural life that went on against the background of the palace interiors: politics and revolutions took over.
The State Duma worked in the Assembly hall from 1906; the parliamentary life of Russia started here. By 1917 the political situation became heated in extreme and the members of the last Duma dissolved by the Tzar dispersed as they were unable to come to any agreement and settled in different wings of the palace. The left wing was occupied by the Petrograd Soviet of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies, while the right one housed the Provisional Government. Dual Power was established in Russia. The Tavrichesky palace became a symbol of revolution. Meetings, sessions, conferences, councils were held in the splendid halls of the palace; Lenin often delivered his speeches here. A grandiose plan of the creation of a new world was being worked out and for the sake of that new world the old one was being mercilessly destroyed. The palace was now the Head Quarters of the revolution. It was not regarded as a work of art at that hectic time. Moving the soviet government to Moscow in 1918 did not turn the life of the palace into a backwater. International congresses, conferences and assemblies were held here. Still more changes were made to the interiors of the palace, the most noticeable being those made to the orders of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Larisa Shefer.
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The XIX century literally became the turning point in the fate of the Tavrichesky palace: the residence underwent a radical reconstruction to meet the demands of the State Duma. To make room for meetings and sessions the Winter Garden — the pride and adornment of the palace, an example of the tradition of the laying out of gardens and parks — was destroyed. With it a natural link with the regular park was lost; at the same time the Palace theatre was turned into the library; the building up of the colonnades of the Catherine Hall deprived it of its wonderful open view. The magazine “Olden Years” referred to the reconstruction as an act of pure vandalism.
At present the Tavrichesky palace is the HQ of the InterParliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of the Independent States (CIS). St.Petersburg, being one of the largest economic, political and cultural centres of Europe became the parliamentary capital of a commonwealth born to lead a civilised existence. It is here, under the roof of the palace, that the St.Petersburg Economic Forum will be held. Y