Tauride Palace: architect, description and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

St. Petersburg is significantly different from other pre-revolutionary Russian cities. Having appeared much later than the same large settlements, it constantly grew and improved under the tight control of the monarchy and the emperors personally, had generous funding and any lack of freedom. This contradiction led to a surprising result. The former capital of the Russian Empire is known for its beautiful mansions and castles, some of which were built in the 18th century, during the first hundred years of the city's history.

One of them by right will always be the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg (architect I. E. Starov). Its construction began in the famous 1783 (the year of the annexation of the Crimea), and it took about six years. Its author was one of the first specialists of the architectural school of Russian classicism.

Biography of an outstanding architectural object

Today, many simple architecture lovers, not very well versed in the intricacies of the subject, do not remember looking at the Tauridepalace, who was the architect of this famous monument. And this was Ivan Yegorovich Starov, the favorite architect of Prince Potemkin-Tauride. By origin, he was an ordinary commoner - his father served in the Orthodox Church as a deacon.

This, however, did not at all prevent the exceptionally talented young man from getting to study at the gymnasium at Moscow University in the very first year of its existence, and a year later he was transferred to the gymnasium at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in accordance with the future profession of an architect.

The outstanding talent of the nugget and the help of some contemporary patrons allowed the self-taught person to complete the full course of study, completing her internship abroad, and become a full-fledged specialist, both in terms of internal self-contemplation and external formal requirements. In recent years, he has been an academic.

I. E. Starov's contribution to the development of Russian architecture

On his return after a foreign internship to the capital of the Russian Empire, I. E. Starov quickly distinguished himself in the field of professional studies. In St. Petersburg, he began to own architectural projects, including the building of the cadet gentry corps and other buildings. And of course, the Tauride Palace and the architect I. Starov are forever connected in the history of our country. This is one of his main creations.

In addition, at the suggestion of Count Potemkin, Starov made a lot of efforts to develop and improve the annexed southern lands. In 1790 he designed a building planthe territory of the city of Nikolaev near the shipyard and the pier, between the mouths of the rivers Ingul and the Southern Bug. The city plan stands out with straight lines and regular beautiful quarters. The architect died in 1808

I. E. Starov is rightfully considered one of the outstanding architects of Russia of the eighteenth century, who left a big mark on the history of the country.

History of the creation of the Tauride Palace

The Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg (architect I. E. Starov) got its name for a reason. During the first Russian-Turkish war, Crimea (ancient Taurida) was included in Russia for the first time. In honor of this event, a luxurious building was created.

The territory for the construction of the palace was allocated on the left bank of the capital's Neva River on Shpalernaya Street of the capital. Next to the building under construction was the Smolny Monastery. Initially, the building was not called a palace. In the seventeenth century, structures of this kind were simply called houses. The building on Shpalernaya Street was named the House of the Horse Guards, and it was built for the private residence of the brilliant commander, the illustrious Prince Count Potemkin, a favorite of Empress Catherine II. However, the owner of all these treasures himself, due to regular trips, almost never visited the Tauride Palace. And he didn’t have long to live after the construction of the palace was completed.

House of the Horse Guards as a reflection of the era

The building of the Tauride Palace (Russia, St.centuries.

Since the sixties of the eighteenth century, domestic architects, studying European examples, worked within the framework of the noble, but not pretentious simplicity of the principles of classicism. This was facilitated by the personal preferences of Empress Catherine II. Classicism in Russia was charged with original expressiveness, which was caused both by the prevalence of the architectural heritage of Russia, and by the realities of the life of society and the state (economic, public, political), and, of course, by the creative possibilities and bright individuality of a number of generations of talented architects.

Main building of the Tauride Palace

The architectural ensemble of the Tauride Palace (architect Starov) consists of the main two-story building covered with a dome and two side wings with internal decorative courtyards lying on the sides. From the side of the main facade, it is seriously at odds with the design of the elaborate buildings of the luxurious Rococo and Baroque eras. The Taurida Palace was built in the form of a U-shape and combines a number of structures, the total area of which is approximately 66 thousand square meters. The façade of the building is 260 meters long and has a six-column white portico in the classical style. Above the main building, which rises twelve meters above the ground, lies a drum with a dome floating over the entire structure.

Side buildings of the House of the Horse Guards

From the sides to the building of the Tauride Palace (architect Starov) one-story more modest galleries approach, which unite the House withoutbuildings.

In the side rooms, in addition to everyday living and office rooms, there was also a part of the rooms with ceremonial functions: small living rooms, various kinds of dance rooms, a beautiful concert hall, and the like.

Towards the front courtyard, the side buildings are distinguished by modest separate exits with four-column porticos. On the opposite side of Shpalernaya Street, on which the palace stood, the side buildings form smaller symmetrical retractable elements, near which one-story branches of the palace stand. The ends of these elements are decorated with six-columned Ionic Greek porticos and are side projections of the main building of the palace towards the park. The main portico of the palace highlights the entrance to the main vestibule.

Modern view of the monument of architecture

Modern Taurida Palace architect Starov seriously differs from the original original. His later reconstructions are of a more severe and majestic type, characteristic of the buildings of Roman antiquity. However, it should be noted that in its appearance there is no direct imitation of Western European architectural monuments of the classics, and the level of the aggregate composition of the buildings shows the nature of classical Russian traditions.

The original view of the Tauride Palace

And yet, despite the fact that over the past three hundred and fifty years, the interior of the interior of buildings has experienced a large number of changes, even in the current palace one can easilyconsider the fine decoration of halls and rooms. The former version of the Tauride Palace (1783-1789) was even more magnificent.

The initial state of the interior of the palace can be imagined after studying the stories of famous contemporaries. In particular, the bright and famous poet Derzhavin, having visited this palace, was extremely surprised by its rich beauty and left his feelings about him in his poetic works.

Remained references to the palace in the memoirs and other contemporaries.

Surroundings of the creation of architect Starov

Beautiful and solemn were the immediate surroundings of the Tauride Palace architect Starov. Directly in front of the main facade in the first decades lay a quiet small harbor of a spherical shape on the river. Neva with a reliable pier (liquidated in the 1860s for technical reasons). Quite fanciful pleasure boats of the owners and regular arriving guests of the estate were and moored near it. The architectural complex of the constructed Tauride Palace includes the so-called garden master's house.

At the same time, the garden master V. Gould planted and grew the Tauride Garden behind the buildings. On its territory there were a large number of colorful hills, small artificial reservoirs, flow channels, wooden bridges, large flower beds, greenhouses, greenhouses for exotic plants, etc. Two modest outbuildings are covered with domed towers.

Catherine's Hall and other interior spaces

Main anda system-forming room in the building created in the last quarter of the 18th century. Tauride Palace, the magnificent Catherine's Hall became the attraction of the whole complex. The visitor can enter it only through a relatively small domed room with a Greek colonnade. The entrance from the outside of the room was specially decorated with the Triumphal Gates, with large pillars of semi-precious jasper and durable granite to add solemnity to the moment.

Ekaterininsky Hall was originally called Belokolonny in a different way. The architect I. E. Starov decided to put architectural details of the Hellenic era in its base. During the days of luxurious holidays, it was designed to receive up to five thousand visitors.

Interior of Catherine's Hall of the Palace

In general, it must be said that outwardly strict, left without decor and marble sculpture, the palace impressed with its interior - its rooms were excellent in shape and height, had magnificent decoration. At the opposite end of the hall lay the rotunda of a small winter garden with several columns. In the center of it was a statue of Empress Catherine II (sculpture by F. Shubin). Beautiful exotic plants grew in the garden.

In the Tauride Palace, in addition to the Catherine Hall and the winter garden, you can also see the beautiful Chinese and artsy Divan Hall, the art gallery and the Gobelin living room. Skilled craftsmen of that time were partially involved in the decoration of the premises. Initially, during the life of the Empress, there was a wonderful collection of paintings and statues.

The Russian architect who built the Tauride Palace, in his majestic and solemn appearance, showed the growing level of the victorious Russian state, expanding its borders. But this is far from the only outstanding building of that time.

Further fate of the palace

The life of the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg does not end with the eighteenth century alone. Its history fully reflects the centuries-old development of the country. After the death of Catherine the Great in 1796, her son Paul the First ascended the throne. Extravagant and quick-tempered, he also hated his mother and her entourage. The favorite of the Empress, Count Potemkin, was one of the first on the list of enemies of the new ruler. Since Potemkin himself had already died by this time, Pavel began to fight with his legacy. The magnificent Tauride Palace was given to the soldiers - barracks were built here.

However, with the advent of the next great Russian emperor in the first year of the nineteenth century, the palace was recreated again and turned into one of the state residences of the ruling imperial house. At the beginning of the turbulent twentieth century, the Taurida Palace was declared the building of the convened State Duma.

Post-revolutionary era and modernity

1917 did not stop the development of the Tauride Palace. The history after the February Revolution and the overthrow of the Romanovs led to the fact that the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky worked in the premises of the palace. The Bolsheviks replaced him. Until the end of the summer of 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets worked in the Tauride Palace. Finally, in January 1918,here the All-Russian Constituent Assembly was assembled for a short period.

In Soviet times, various Soviet and party bodies worked in the palace.

At the beginning of the 21st century, regular international economic forums and other meetings are held in the rebuilt, but still in good condition, Tauride Palace. The General Office of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Commonwe alth States (CIS) also operates on the premises of the palace.