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Erected on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Taurida Palace has never been in the margins of history. Designed on a lavish scale and skillfully built, it became an outstanding phenomenon from the very first days of its existence. In 1789, immediately upon completion of construction, its owner, Fieldmarshal Count Potemkin-Taurichesky, held a magnificent ball in honor of Catherine II, one that was long the talk of the town. Foreigners came to St. Petersburg just in order to have a look at the wonderful creation of architect Ivan Starov. A low, wide and sprawling two-floor building, it is nevertheless austere and well balanced. Two protruding side wings form an inner yard; the center is marked with a six-column portico with a pediment. Taurida Palace is crowned with a massive dome. And the unruffled calmness of the facade conceals 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 another entailing changes in the Palace's interiors. During the 19th century the palace was repeatedly reconstructed, its interiors were modernised, their function changed. Yet the general design of the interiors remained unchanged. Members of the tsarist family, foreign princes and other dignitaries lived or stayed in the palace. The 20th century was a turning point in the fate of Taurida 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 erection 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. The State Duma worked in the Assembly Hall from 1906. Russia's parliamentary life began here. By 1917 the political situation became explosive and the members of the last Duma, which the tsar dissolved, 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 Taurida Palace became a symbol of revolution. Meetings, sessions, conferences and councils were held in the Palace's splendid halls. Lenin often delivered his speeches here. A grandiose plan for 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 revolutionary headquarters. It was not regarded as a work of art at that hectic time. Moving the Soviet government to Moscow in 1918 did not turn Palace into a backwater. International congresses, conferences and assemblies continued to be held here. Still more changes were made to its interiors, the most noticeable being those made by orders of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Nowadays Taurida Palace is the seat of the InterParliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). St. Petersburg, being one of the largest economic, political and cultural centres of Europe, became the CIS's parliamentary capital. It is here, under the Palace's roof, that the St. Petersburg Economic Forum was held.
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