Many people visit the small town of Alupka on the southern coast of Crimea just to see the Vorontsovsky Park in Crimea located here. This is not surprising, because it is a real work of art.
In the 19th century, among the wealthy nobility, there was a fashion for park complexes and winter gardens. Count Mikhail Vorontsov was no exception. He subscribes the German gardener Karl Kebach to lay a luxurious park around his future residence. The foreigner masterfully uses every meter of the space entrusted to him. Since we have to deal not with fertile soils, but with rocky terrain, under the leadership of Kebakh, the land is cleared of stones, and black soil is specially brought here from Ukraine. The creation of the park’s splendor takes a total of 40 years.
The territory of the park is huge – about 40 hectares, from west to east its length is almost a kilometer. The richest collection of trees and shrubs from different parts of the world is collected here – about 200 specimens. Along with cypresses, magnolias, plane trees and cork oak, there are real exotics such as araucaria from Chile and sequoias. The Mediterranean climate contributed to their acclimatization.
The park is divided into Upper and Lower, and the Vorontsov Palace is the center of the complex.
Upper Vorontsovsky Park in Alupka. Vorontsovsky Park in Crimea
The upper park, located above the palace in the mountains, is subordinated to the landscape style, when natural landscapes are modified so that human intervention is invisible, and artificially created lakes and ponds look like natural.
One of the ideas when creating the park is a contrasting change of impressions, when the austere grandeur of boulders is replaced by joyful sunny glades and gentle alleys.
Big and Small Alupka Chaos
The largest sights of the Upper Landscape Park are the Big and Small Alupka Chaos. These are piles of diabase stone created by nature, which organically fit into the park’s layout. Small chaos, directly adjacent to the palace, serves as a place of solitude. There are skillfully laid many paths that form a whole labyrinth, viewing platforms and benches are equipped.
Between the chaos there are lakes Forelnoye, Zerkalnoye and Swan. White swans live in the largest of them – Swan – a romantic atmosphere reigns here.
Here, in the Upper Park, beautiful meadows are arranged instead of lawns. The contrasting glade is so called because there are both deciduous and coniferous trees. And there is a significant contrast between the shape of the crown and the height of the trees.
Glade Kashtanovaya pleases with the abundance of old chestnuts surrounding it. And on Platanovaya Polyana you can always enjoy the coolness under the tent of three huge plane trees growing here.
The composition of the sunny meadow is very simple, but it is it that is one of the best parts of the park. Surrounded by dense trees on all sides, the meadow concentrates sunlight. Despite its natural appearance, it was created by the labor of serfs: the hills were leveled, stones were transferred to another place and thousands of tons of land were brought in. While here, you can enjoy the wonderful mountain landscape overlooking the Ai-Petri battlements. The sunny meadow is often called one of the visiting cards of the Crimea.
Lower park
The lower park goes directly to the sea and is arranged according to the example of Italian parks with palm trees and flowers, sculptures and fountains. Here you should definitely visit the “Lion’s Terrace”. It is a wide staircase decorated with three pairs of lion sculptures made of white marble.
Vorontsov Palace Lion Terrace
A breathtaking sea view opens up from here. Also noteworthy is the nearby fountain “Maria” – a variation on the theme of the famous Bakhchisarai fountain of tears, as well as the “Shell” fountain and the “Tea House” spring.
You can walk in the park of the Vorontsov Palace for an infinitely long time, enjoying the luxurious trees, picturesque meadows and alleys with beautiful views of the sea, the palace and the mountains. And at the same time, finding something new for yourself every time, marvel at the skill of its creators.