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- |Isaakiyevskaya Square|Custom1|O:104|, 6
- 1839-44. Architect A. Stakenschneider
- Now the City's Administration building
- The palace was built for Nicholas I's daughter Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna. It was the
- first big work by the architect. The facade is designed on classical principles; its center is
- accentuated by a portico with a bulky attic and open arcade of the main entrance, supporting a
- balcony with six big vases.
- Artistically the palace interiors are of interest. Having taken the layout of the |Tavrichesky|Custom1|O:63|
- |(Taurida) Palace|Custom1|O:63| for a model (architect I.Starov,
- 1783-90) and developed it Stakenschneider
- created a suite of halls that was not parallel to
- the main facade, but went back, along the
- central axis of the building. It is the only suite of
- such kind know in Russian 19th - century
- architecture. The suite is opened by a vestibule
- leading to the central Rotunda. It is decorated
- with 32 columns, spanned with a cupola and
- illuminated from above. In 1906-7 a spacious Hall
- for the State Council Sittings was set up in place
- of former winter garden, to a design by L.Benois.
- In 1884 the palace was acquired into the Treasury
- and came to accommodate the State Council; after
- the February revolution of 1917 it used to be the
- residence of the Provisional Government.
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