The Tauride Garden (russian: Таврический сад) is a park in the Tsentralny District of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. It is located behind the

Tauride Palace Tauride Palace (russian: Таврический дворец, translit=Tavrichesky dvorets) is one of the largest and most historically important palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction and early use Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride ...

, and near the

Smolny Cathedral Smolny Convent or Smolny Convent of the Resurrection (''Voskresensky'', Russian: Воскресенский новодевичий Смольный монастырь), located on Ploschad Rastrelli (Rastrelli Square), on the left bank of the Ri ...

History

The garden was laid out between 1783 and 1789. Prince

Grigory Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...

ordered his favourite architect, William Guld, to design and lay out the park. When Potemkin died in 1791, the park and palace were used by

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

as a residence. Afterwards it was opened to the public. In 1898, a theater was built in the park. In 1932, it was renamed the "Park of Culture and Rest of the First Five-Year Plan", commemorating the early completion of the Soviet Union's

first five-year plan The first five-year plan (russian: I пятилетний план, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of socialism in ...

for the national economy. The name "Tauride Garden" was later restored.

Features

The park currently contains several sports areas, an ice skating rink, and an

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

. Some of these were created when the park was partially redesigned in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Orangery

The orangery has many exotic plants, including

peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

watermelons Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 vari ...

apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus '' Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are al ...

, and

pineapples The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centurie ...

Gallery

File:The Tauride Garden - panoramio (2).jpg, Panoramic view of Tauride Garden (2014) File:The Tauride Garden - panoramio (1).jpg, Panoramic view of Tauride Garden (2014) File:The Tauride Garden - panoramio (3).jpg, Panoramic view of Tauride Garden (2014) File:The Tauride Garden - panoramio (4).jpg, Panoramic view of Tauride Garden (2014) File:Fishing by the pond of the Tauride gardens (18271771110).jpg , Fishing by the pond of the Tauride gardens (2014) File:Fishing_by_the_pond_of_the_Tauride_gardens_(18461260441).jpg, Fishing by the pond of the Tauride gardens (2014) File:299. St. Petersburg. Tauride Garden.jpg, (2013) File:Памятник пионерам-героям в Таврическом саду DSC 4363.JPG, (2016) File:Statue Essenine.JPG, Yesenin Monument, Tauride Garden (2014)

References

{{coord, 59, 56, 45, N, 30, 22, 26, E, type:landmark_region:RU, display=title Parks and open spaces in Saint Petersburg Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg