Palacio Táuride

Palacio Táuride y sus jardines a comienzos del siglo XX.

Palacio Táuride (en ruso: Tavrichesky dvorets, Таврический дворец) es uno de los palacios más grandes y con mayor tradición histórica en San Petersburgo, Rusia.

Potemkin

El príncipe Potemkin de Tauride encargó a su arquitecto favorito, Iván Starov, diseñar su residencia en la ciudad en un riguroso estilo Palladio. Starov lo diseño condicionado por un gran parque y un puerto en el frontal del palacio, que deseaba enlazar directamente por medio de un canal con el río Neva. Las obras comenzaron en 1783 y duraron seis años. Se consideró la mayor residencia de un noble en el siglo XVII en Rusia, el Palacio Táuride sirvió como modelo para innumerables casas solariegas dispersas por todo el Imperio Ruso.

Poco antes de su fallecimiento, el 28 de abril de 1791, Potemkin used the palace to host unprecedented festivities and illuminations with the purpose of winning the Empress's waning affections. The ball was described by Gavrila Derzhavin in the longest of his compositions. Notwithstanding all the expenses, Potemkin failed in his ambition and departed for Iaşi in despair.

Catalina II

Palacio Táuride en 2003.

After the owner's death several months later, Catalina II purchased his palace and ordered architect Fyodor Volkov to transform it into her summer townhouse. Volkov was responsible for many improvements in the grounds, including the construction of the teatro in the east wing and the church in the west wing. In the garden, he designed the Admiralty Pavilion, gardener house, orangery, glass-houses, bridges, and ironwork fences. The sculpture named the Venus Tauride (now in the Museo Hermitage) was kept in the palace from the end of the eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth, and derives its name from it.

The exterior appearance of the palace was rather plain and contrasted sharply with the riotous luxuriance of its interiors. The domed hall, one of the largest in Russia, was connected by a 75-meter-long columned gallery with a jardín de invierno. The decoration of every major room – including the Chinese Hall and the Tapestry Parlour – was destroyed after 1799, when Emperor Paul, who detested all the things his mother liked, gave over the palace to his favourite cavalry regiment to be used as barracks.

Congresos y Asambleas

In the 19th century, the palace was refurbished by Carlo Rossi and Vasily Stasov as a residence for minor royalty. It had been used to host balls and exhibitions until 1906, when it was transformed into the seat of the first Russian parlamento, the Imperial State Duma.

Inmediatamente después de la Revolución de Febrero de 1917, el Palacio Táuride alojó el Gobierno Provisional ruso and the Petersburg Soviet. The abortive Russian Constituent Assembly held its meetings there in 1918. In May 1918 Bolcheviques held here their 7th Congress, where they first named themselves the Partido Comunista de Rusia(Bolcheviques).

Desde los años 1990, el Palacio Táuride ha sido la sede de la Asamblea Interparlamentaria de los países miembros de la CEI (IPA CIS). On this account, a large glass-covered annex was erected immediately behind the palace, in the Tauride Gardens.

Sala de Reuniones del primer Parlamento Ruso (imagen actual).

Referencias

• Dyachenko L.I., Krotov M.I. Tavrichesky dvorets: proshloe i nastoyashee. SPb, 2002.
• Shuysky V.K. Tavrichesky dvorets. SPb, 2003.

Enlaces externos

• Wikimedia Commons alberga una categoría multimedia sobre Palacio Táuride.
• Palacio Táuride en la Enciclopedia de San Petersburgo
• (en ruso) Official website