Sofievsky Park in Uman: a place born of love. Sofievsky Park in Uman - a beautiful love story

The biblical name "Garden of Eden" is used to describe places where a person feels as if he has grown wings. But what should such a garden look like? To find out about this for sure, we advise you to come to Uman in the Cherkasy region and visit the arboretum " Sofiyivka».

This park is a real miraculous place of power, gives love, because in 1796 it was founded in the name of love. The idea of ​​this man-made miracle, on the creation of which thousands of serfs worked, belongs to the Polish count Stanislav Potocki, who was madly in love with his beautiful wife, the Greek woman Sofia.

When Count Potocki and Sophia met, both were married and each had a difficult past behind them. The count survived the death of his beloved woman, while Sophia went from an Istanbul courtesan to the wife of the commandant of the Kamenetz-Podolsk fortress. The beautiful and intelligent Sophia Witt captivated the heart of Potocki. He built this heavenly park of love for Sophia and in 1802 gave it to her for her birthday.

About the love park of Count Potocki - " Sofiyivka' - you can talk endlessly. Here, even the air is somehow special, intoxicating, saturated with tenderness and love, such that it sets you up for romance, gives calm and amazing lightness in thoughts, feelings and desires. Sofievsky Park is also called a temple of nature, a poem of stone, earth, water, architectural structures and sculptures.

Sofievsky Park was created based on ancient Greek myths, which was best embodied in its beautiful landscapes. The main entrance to the park is decorated with two stone watchtowers, the crown of which is borrowed from the temple of Vesta, the patroness of the hearth and sacrificial fire in Ancient Rome. This is the first special place of power in this park, which is called the Crown of Vesta. If you believe the legend, passing through this arch with your loved one, you are guaranteed happy and long years together.

From the entrance to the depths of the park leads the main alley, which is decorated on both sides with centuries-old chestnuts and poplars. Near the alley, the Kamenka River quietly carries its waters. On the slope of its shore rises a group of stones called the Tarpeian rock.

Between the columns of the pavilion, views of the Lower Pond with the 18-meter-high “Snake” fountain and the terrace of the Muses are visible. Above the lower pond hangs the Lefkada Rock, in which, if you look at it from the side, you can guess the profile of a person who is too similar to Count Pototsky himself. The Belvedere site was built on it.

Further, leaving behind the Thunder Grotto and the grotto of Venus, we rise to the Upper Pond, in the very center of which there is an artificial island of Love with a Pink Pavilion. Here you can admire the Amsterdam lock, and then take a trip on a huge boat in complete darkness by the underground river Styx, leading to the Dead Lake.

Many who wish to find happiness in their personal lives associate their hopes with the island of Love. It is believed that when a person is unlucky in love, it is enough for him to go around the island three times, and he can calmly wait for a happy meeting.

Be sure to visit Calypso Grotto. In it, Potocki himself left a parting word in Polish for posterity: “Whoever is unhappy, let him come in and become happy, and whoever is happy, let him become even happier.” They say that you need to touch the sign with the inscription, and then walk around the big stone three times, and then happiness will definitely appear in your life.

The park has a staircase with seventy-seven steps. It is known that on the day when the count gave the park to his beloved, he carried her in his arms up these stairs, kissing her on every step. Walk through them too to feel how the warmth of love penetrates your soul.

There is also a place in the park that, according to legend, grants wishes. This is the Big Falls, so that it will give you success, you just need to overcome the passage located just behind this waterfall. And if you stay dry, your wish will come true.

Briefly about Count Potocki

Count Stanislav-Felix Frantsevich Potocki ( middle name Schesny, which means "happy") was born in 1753 ( according to other sources - 1752). He was the only son of the Polish magnate Frank Silesius Potocki. The young count was brought up in love, but also in severity. His mentor was priest Wolf, who instilled in the young count a sense of responsibility, mercy and concern for the peasants. The count's parents hoped for a profitable dynastic marriage with a representative of a count or princely family. However, Schesny fell in love with Gertrude, the daughter of Count Komarovsky, who owned only a few villages.

In 1770, Schesniy, secretly from his parents, married Gertrude. After that, on the orders of her father, Silesius Potocki, the pregnant Gertrude was kidnapped. She was taken to a monastery. And so that the dear unfortunate woman did not scream and did not attract attention, she was covered with pillows, under which she suffocated. The corpse of Gertrude was thrown into the hole. Upon learning of this, the young Count Potocki tried to commit suicide, but he was saved by a jura ( in the 16th - 18th centuries, this was the name of a young guy - a squire, an assistant to a Cossack foreman).

In December 1874, young Potocki married Jozefina Amalia Mnishek, but these were not the most joyful years in the count's personal life. Josephine Amalia was distinguished by a violent temperament and not too high morality.

Many years will pass until the count feels that a real feeling has come into his life. He will fall in love with Sofia and, in honor of his chosen one, will lay a park of incredible beauty.

Little help

Calypso- in ancient Greek mythology - a nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia and sheltered Odysseus, who escaped on the wreckage of a ship. On Ogygia, Calypso lived in the midst of wonderful nature, in a grotto covered with vines. She kept Odysseus for seven years, hiding from the world. To connect with her beloved forever, the goddess offered Odysseus eternal youth and immortality. However, the hero-traveler managed not to succumb to the charms and seductive offers of Calypso and continued his difficult journey to his beloved wife.

Venus was once the Roman goddess of gardens, her name was used as a synonym for fruit. Later, she became not only the goddess of beauty and love, but also the patroness of the Romans. Venus gained particular popularity in the 1st century BC. BC e., when the Emperor Sulla, who believed that Venus gives him happiness, desired her patronage, the famous military leader Pompey, who dedicated the temple to the goddess as a winner, Julius Caesar, who considered her the progenitor of the Julius.

And it all began with the romantic and passionate love of Count Stanislav Szczesny Potocki and the charming Greek beauty Sophia de Witt, a secular lady (according to one version, a former courtesan), who was patronized by Prince G. Potemkin himself, who managed to achieve brilliant success under the Polish, French and Russian yards. Both had legal spouses, but could this be an obstacle for lovers? They began to live together, and from this union two sons were born. For a long time, Potocki sought a divorce from his wife Josephine (Josephina), who did not give consent, apparently still hoping to save the marriage. Sophia's husband, General Russian army Jozef de Witt, also did not soon agree to a divorce. Potocki offered a generous ransom for his wife, which he could not refuse. Potocki himself managed to dissolve the bonds of marriage only after the death of Empress Catherine II, who was on the side of the rejected Josephine. In 1798, the lovers finally legalized their relationship.

For Sofia, Pototsky ordered to build an unusual park in Uman, fabulously beautiful and the largest in Europe, which he named after his beloved woman “Sofiyivka”. In 1796, work began on the implementation of this idea. The park project was developed by Ludwig Metzel, a Polish officer and military engineer. Under his supervision all construction works. In the design of the park, Metzel was guided by ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the Homeric poems "Odyssey" and "Iliad". Apparently, this was done to please Sophia, who was of Greek origin. That is why there are so many different structures and compositions on ancient Greek themes in Sofievsky Park: the grottoes of Tantalus, Venus, Calypso, Scylla and Thetis, Lefkada Rock with the Belvedere observation deck built on it. There is also the Cretan labyrinth, and the underground river Acheron (Styx), through which, according to ancient myths, the gloomy Charon transported souls to the kingdom of the dead.

About 800 Uman serfs worked daily on the creation of the park, who, by the way, received wages for their work, albeit untimely. The territory of the Sofiyivka park was laid out in the Kamenka tract, through which the Bagno River (later Kamenka) flowed, on the site of an oak grove, which was later cut down. Until now, in the park near the Chinese gazebo, you can see an oak whose age exceeds 300 years. Many plantings were made in Sofiyivka, including rare, exotic species of trees and plants: Babylonian willows, tulip trees, plane trees, pyramidal poplars, arborvitae, etc. The German gardener Oliva, specially invited for this purpose, took care of the plants. Demolition work was carried out, grottoes of Venus and Leo were carved into the rocks, a water system that worked without pumps, a relief was clearly thought out, dams were erected on the Kamenka River, underground locks were built, Anti-Circe Island was manually poured, etc. Under Metzel, the Upper and Lower lakes, the Acheront River, the Big Waterfall, the Seven Jet Fountain, the Amsterdam Lock and a number of other structures were created.

In May 1802, Count Pototsky presented Sofiyivka to his beloved wife as a gift for her name day. On this day on central square park - Gathering Square (Gathering Square) - a festive performance with fireworks was arranged. Pototsky did not have time to complete the construction of the Uman park - he died three years later. The park was inherited by Sophia, and after her death - by Potocki's son Alexander. For Alexander's support of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, all the lands and estates of the Pototskys were confiscated in 1832. Their possessions passed into submission to the Kiev State Chamber. And the Sofiyivka park in Uman was a gift for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Many significant changes were made to the composition of the Sofievsky park ensemble in the period from 1836 to 1859. From that time until the revolution of 1917, the park in Uman was called the Tsaritsyn Garden. Conventionally, this is the second stage of the construction of Sofiyivka. After the transformation, Sadovaya Street appeared, connecting the city with the park. The main entrance to the Tsaritsyn Garden began from this street, on both sides of which two watchtowers in the antique style were erected. It is believed that in the design of the front towers, some details (for example, the frieze) are borrowed from the Temple of Vesta in the Italian city of Tivoli. The ancient Romans worshiped the goddess Vesta as the guardian of the family hearth and sacrificial fire. It is not surprising that all newlyweds traditionally come to the Sophia towers to receive the blessing of the goddess for a long and happy married life. At the second stage of the construction of the park, the terrace of the Muses, the Chinese gazebo and the "Mushroom" gazebo appeared. In "Sofiyivka" was built the Pavilion of Flora, named after the Roman goddess of spring and flowers - a simple and at the same time elegant open structure with four columns. Through these columns you can see the silver jets of the Serpent Fountain. An elegant Rose Pavilion was erected on Anti-Circe Island.

In the spring of 1859, "Sofiyivka" was transferred to the Main School of Horticulture (the beginning of the third stage of the construction of the Sofievsky Park Ensemble), and from that time on, the park will be called "Uman Garden of the Main School of Horticulture" in official documents. A great contribution to the development of the Uman park was made by Vasily Pashkevich, a well-known gardener and pomologist, who at that time taught at the school. In 1889-1890, in the northern part of the park, he created the English Park, a beautiful arboretum. On 2 hectares of land, he planted more than a hundred species of rare and exotic species of shrubs, trees and plants.

In the post-revolutionary years, "Sofiyivka" remained at the school of gardening, albeit under the new name "Garden of the III International." Only in 1929 (the beginning of the fourth stage) the park in Uman received the status of the State Reserve, and since 1945 it was officially returned to its former name - the Uman State Reserve "Sofiyivka". During the Second World War, some buildings of the park were destroyed, and the German invaders buried their dead soldiers in the Dubinka glade. The fifth stage of making changes to the Sofievsky Ensemble - 1955 - 1980. During this period, the territory of the park increased by 20.79 hectares, architectural structures were repaired, forged gates were built at the main entrance on the street. Garden instead of dilapidated wooden structure, as well as the source "Silver Streams". Serious damage to "Sofiyivka" was inflicted during the flood of 1980 (the beginning of the sixth stage). Then, due to a sharp warming, a huge amount of melt water fell on Sofiyivka. Many trees and plants died, sculptures, bridges, wooden buildings (the “Fungus” gazebo, the “Pheasant” pavilion) were demolished and destroyed by the elements, paths and alleys were washed out. After the flood, the restoration and major reconstruction of the Sofievsky park ensemble was carried out.

Since the 90s of the XX century, Sofiyivka has become an independent scientific organization of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The park has a new main entrance from Kievskaya Street (near the bus station) with ticket offices and a flower shop.

Today I will continue the description of our odyssey in the Sofiyivka park. So, in Uman we were at 16:00. There was no large influx of tourist groups, it was evening time. Mostly they were walking groups of people.
In my story there will be our impressions, and historical references from the guide to Sofiyivka, and photographs. And now we're off on a new journey.

".... Whoever has not seen "Sofiyivka" does not have a complete understanding of how art affects nature. If you want to have a true understanding of what is usually called the Champs Elysees, an earthly paradise, come to Sofiyivka and be amazed by the genius There, nature and art, combining all their powers, created a wonderful creation ... What a harmonious harmony in the amazing fusion of their mutual works! Nothing can compare with what you see here: everything enchants, captures. Do not think, however, that I I wanted to present you a far-fetched beauty..." - this is how the famous Russian traveler I.M.

Many call "Sofiyivka" a temple of nature, a poem of stone, water, earth, architectural structures and sculptures, located on 150 hectares.
From the very beginning of its existence, the park became known as the "miracle of Ukraine" or "one of the wonders of Europe".

Everyone who gets here is moved to another era, in which the flow of time stops. Even the air here is somehow special, intoxicating, saturated with love, tenderness, setting you in a romantic mood, giving peace and fabulous lightness in feelings, thoughts, desires.

What won't a man do for the woman he loves?! And here is one of the richest people XVIII century, Count Felix Pototsky decided to give his beautiful wife Sophia, a Greek by birth, more than a romantic gift of love - a beautiful park in the city of Uman.

Without tea soul in his young wife, Pototsky plans to lay a park of fabulous beauty, but such that it contains a piece of Hellas, the birthplace of Sofia, and the Champs Elysees, and marvelous plants, sculptures - in a word, everything that would dispel in the soul of his beloved longing for homeland. Everything in Sofievsky Park - picturesque rocks, noisy waterfalls, fountains, cool grottoes, wonderful statues - is made for the love of a woman of unearthly beauty.

They used to give!

A bit of history
The chronicles, yellowed by time, will inform those who are interested in history that it all began like this: Count Stanislav Szczesny (Felix) Potocki, a descendant of the great crown hetman, one of the richest people, both in our country and in Poland, met an amazing woman in Warsaw beauty and unusual fate - Sofia. She was born in distant Tsaregrad, but soon she was welcomed at the courts of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in Paris, Catherine II in St. Petersburg.

A contemporary of Sophia wrote about her like this: “She is as good as the goddess Grida. She dressed in Greek, then in French. Wherever she appeared, she captivated everyone, crowds followed her, some climbed onto chairs just to see her.” But then she saw only Stanislav Pototsky. And, in the end, on April 17, 1798 in Tulchin, in the family estate, Count Pototsky married Sophia Witt, and since then they have lived as a married couple in Uman.

It was then that Potocki conceived the greatest project. Already at the end of 1796, he began the construction of a fantastic natural park dedicated to the beautiful Sophia.

Pond

Why the park? One day, in July 1795, Sophia, on her way from Hamburg, stopped at the estate of Countess Helena Radziwill, not far from Warsaw. Impressed by the luxurious Arcadia park created there in the Greco-Roman style, she (of course, without even the slightest hint and secret intention) wrote an innocent letter to her beloved: “After dinner we went to watch Arcadia. It’s hard to imagine something better and more romantic.You know "Arcadia" but saw it 10 years ago.Imagine how young trees can grow in 10 years, and how much has been done here to improve this place...I am madly in love with "Arcadia". the world not a single kind of flowers and exotic plants that wouldn't grow here. Walking through the gardens of the Arcadia, I felt that at the height of summer I was experiencing spring again. Arcadia reminds me very much of Crimea. You know that in that region with your income it would be possible to have in two years the same, and perhaps even more beautiful "Arcadia", because artificial plantings are not needed there.

Writing this, Sophia did not know, or perhaps did not want to know, that the realization of her romantic dream of a park in the Crimea at that time was simply unrealistic for Pototsky: his manager brought the financial condition of the estates to bankruptcy. However, love turned out to be stronger than financial difficulties. Pototsky begins to look for a place and money for the future park.

Pond

Most of all, the count was attracted by the northern outskirts of Uman. This secluded corner of the wild landscape was peculiar and charmingly unique. In some places, huge granite blocks came to the surface, in some places lone stunted trees and bushes grew. True, two century-old oaks also grew here. In many places, springs seeped out from under the stones, and the Kamenka River flowed at the bottom of the central beam. Potocki asks his adjutant and talented architect, the Polish military engineer Ludwig Metzel, if it is possible to make a "party" out of this yar? Metzel agrees. And Sofia, who is already fed up with provincial Uman, eagerly picks up the idea of ​​​​building and asks that the park in honor of her Greek descendants have the features of ancient classical Hellas. "Garden to bloom" - in record time.

At the end of 1796, Metzel starts work. As his assistant, as he himself later recalled, "the best gardener from foreign lands" was discharged - the German Oliva. The implementation of engineering and technical (roughly speaking "black") work was entrusted, of course, to the fragile shoulders of the peasants. Most likely, Stanislav Pototsky, presenting the future park, recalled the beautiful landscapes of France, Germany, and his native Poland. The famous St. Petersburg ensembles made a great impression on him - Big and Small Caprice, Trifonova Gora in Tsarskoye Selo, cascades near the Apollo colonnade in Pavlovsky. But he had never seen such a mysterious, unique place, created by nature itself, as in Uman.

Planting of trees began along the reservoirs, including seedlings brought from distant countries: plane tree, honey locust, arborvitae, tulip tree and other exotics. The park was enriched with ancient sculptures, obelisks, decorative vases.

Already in the late 1800s, separate corners of the park were ready, which are connected, as intended, with Greek legends and myths. In just a few years, Uman builders and gardeners have created a real miracle in the wasteland. Sofia was indescribably delighted with the park.

The park was opened in May 1802, although the work had not yet been fully completed. When the trees and bushes were already sufficiently rooted, fountains, cascades of waterfalls, artificial reservoirs and streams began to operate. The long-awaited event was a birthday present for the beautiful Sofia. A loving and caring husband created a real festive extravaganza. Contemporaries recall that in the evening, "after the guests had examined the garden and admired its beauty, illumination was arranged - the lake was especially beautiful, in which the fiery shores were reflected." From that time to this day.

From whichever direction you enter the park, it is beautiful! The main entrance is decorated with two stone watchtowers, the crown of which is borrowed from the temple of the ancient Roman goddess of the hearth and fire of Vesta and Tivoli. All the brides are trying to bring their grooms here: Vesta herself will bless you and your companion when you pass under her crown.

From the entrance to the park, the main alley goes deeper into it, planted on both sides with centuries-old chestnuts and poplars. Next to the alley, Kamenka quietly murmurs. The slopes of the Kamenka valley are directed towards a group of stones called the Tarpeian rock.

Tarpeian rock. According to legend, in ancient Rome, this was the name given to the sheer cliff of the Capitoline Temple, from which those condemned to death were thrown.

The main avenue leads to the Pavilion of Flora, an extremely beautiful architectural structure with a white colonnade in the Doric style.

The gaps between the columns reveal the enchanting landscapes of the Lower Pond, the Snake Fountain (18 meters high), the Terrace of the Muses, the Belvedere.

Above the lower pond on the right side of it there is a place with colossal stone heaps. There is the Leucadian rock, which almost hangs over the water.

Well, if you look at the Lefkada Rock from the side, you can guess the profile of a person who is very similar to Potocki himself. A platform was built on it - Belvedere, and below there is a huge granite block, called the stone of death. This block was supposed to be raised above the Belvedere, but according to legend, during the installation, it collapsed, crippling and forever burying many serfs under it.

Just as it is impossible to imagine Sofiyivka without ponds, so it is impossible to imagine ponds without birds. Graceful white swans have become permanent residents of the Lower Pond. But these are not the only inhabitants, they are accompanied by a goose of gray-black plumage, small ducks and a noisy family of gray mallards. These ducks have chosen the park so much that, according to the stories of the guides, they invariably return to their native lands to their nests.

Duck

On the trees, we often observed squirrels flashing between the foliage.

Walking along the shady alleys of the park, we come to the statue of Eros.

A few meters from the statue, above the river, there are two grottoes of Polyphemus and Loketek.

Grotto Loketek is carved into a granite rock. Its decoration is a simple bench and a round table. Great place for solitude.

Me and Larisa at Loketek Grotto

On our way there is a bridge across the river in the Tempe Valley.

Bridge over the river

The Tempe Valley ends with a stone composition

And finally, from the Tempe Valley, the alley goes to the Champs Elysees illuminated by the sun - evergreen meadows with the purest air.

glades

The lawn of the Champs Elysees is decorated with oaks, spruces, black alder, maple....

glade

Passing the terrace of the Muses, the Lower Alley leads us to the source of Hippocrene.

From the Big Falls to the Lefkada Rock, the Lower Pond washes the shores of a small peninsula - the meeting ground. In the center of the Assembly Square is the pool Temple of Poseidon with a granite vase in the middle.

In "Sofiyivka" there are many grottoes made of granite: Diana's grotto, Tantalus' grotto, Scylla's grotto, Loketek's grotto, Thetis' grotto...

The largest among them is the Lion's or Thunder's Grotto or Calypso's Grotto. It is carved into natural rock.

In the grotto, to the right of the entrance, everyone can see the saying of the first owner of the park in Polish:

"Lose here the memory of misfortunes and accept eternal happiness. If you are happy, be even happier"

Isn't it a wonderful wish?

Among the stones of the labyrinth, against the backdrop of lush greenery, the lifeless skeleton of a white poplar is noteworthy. It is called the "family tree", which is a monument to the gardener who created this once living structure.

From the Thunder Grotto, you can see a wide clearing and the Grotto of Thetis
In the Tarpeian Valley we pass Thunder Grotto and Venus Grotto.

To the left of the grotto of Thetis, distinguished by its shape, there is a pavilion in which pheasants were kept in the time of the Potocki. Therefore, the pavilion was named "Pheasant"

On the granite steps from the Pheasant, you can climb to the Upper Pond, which spreads over 8.6 hectares. Here you can admire the Amsterdam lock and take a trip in absolute darkness on a huge boat along the underground river Styx, leading to the Dead Lake. The Amsterdam Gateway is always crowded. Here originates an underground river connecting the Upper and Lower ponds. Riding on this river is an integral part of the excursion. The river in the park is a tunnel 224 meters long with four manholes - wells for lighting and air.

along the underground river Styx

You can take a boat trip along the Upper Pond.

In the center of the pond there is an artificial Love Island with a Rose Pavilion. This picturesque place is called the island of Anti-Circe, since a sorceress with opposite, good qualities was supposed to live in the Potocki park.

On one side of the Upper Pond there is an English park lined with century-old lindens, on the other side it adjoins the Parterre amphitheater. This is the front entrance to the park.

From the Assembly Square it is easy to get to another corner of the park to the terrace leading to the Dubinka glade, where there is a century-old oak, which is difficult for three to grasp, and a Chinese wooden arbor.

Liked? But this is just a story with photos taken by me and Natalochka. Be sure to find time and come to Uman. Here you will see everything with your own eyes.

The address: Ukraine, Uman
Foundation date: 1796
Coordinates: 48°45"43.8"N 30°14"04.2"E

Dendrological park "Sofiyivka", founded in 1796 and located in the city of Uman, with an area of ​​about 180 hectares, has gained worldwide fame. This park is visited by about 500,000 people every year.

Pavilion of Flora

This park will not leave anyone indifferent, delighting everyone with its amazing grottoes, fountains, waterfalls, underground rivers and beautiful natural landscapes.

The history of the creation and existence of the park

Surprisingly, this park was founded by one of the richest people of the 18th century, Count Felix Pototsky, and presented by him to his Greek wife named Sophia in 1802 for her birthday. Thanks to the project of the architect L. Metzel, the park is a clear illustration separate parts Homer's Odyssey and Iliad.

View of Assembly Square (left), Ionian Sea, Serpent Fountain (center)

The park is part of Hellas, the birthplace of Sofia. Many serfs participated in the construction process, thanks to whose work the grandiose garden and park complex was built in a short period of four years. Thousands of peasants worked at an accelerated pace both in winter and autumn period, In any weather. They paved alleys, built waterfalls and fountains, delivered huge boulders to the place, dug ponds. The sculptors came from different countries, for example, from Italy and France. The park was built in six years.

Fountain Serpent

After the death of Count Felix Potocki, the park became the property of his wife Sophia, and then was inherited by their son Alexander. After the Polish uprising in 1832, the estates of A. Potocki, including the park, were confiscated and transferred to the possession of the state. During this period, the park was unofficially called "Tsaritsyn Garden" and it was during this period that many new architectural monuments were built. These are the main entrance gate park, and the Main Alley, and the first paved street, called Sadovaya.

Parterre amphitheater

Further, in 1859, the park was taken over by the Main School of Horticulture in the city of Uman. The flora of the park is enriched rare species plants and an English park is being created on the territory of the park. This park grows different kinds and forms of trees and shrubs, about a hundred species in total. In 1929, "Sofiyivka" becomes a State Reserve and acquires an independent status.. During the Great Patriotic War many architectural monuments were destroyed and the park was able to resume its work only in March 1944.

Grotto of Thetis

Today, the park has a center for acclimatization and introduction of plants, four scientific departments, as well as a research institute.

Attractions of the park

On the territory of the park is the Museum of the History of the Park, which offers a beautiful view of the granite rocks and the small Lake Geneva, which appeared in the 1930s. At the end of the central alley of the Sofiyivka park, there is the Flora Pavilion with high columns made in the Doric style, with a bas-relief depicting leaves and bunches of grapes.

Big Falls and Valley of the Giants

From here you can admire the panorama of the Lower Lake. Near the pavilion there is a source - "Silver Keys", which is decorated in antique style, in the shape of a horseshoe and made of granite.

Spring water flows from decorative bronze pipes mounted in a vertical wall. Also nearby, to the right of the Flora pavilion is an arched vault - the Venetian Bridge. The biggest and beautiful fountain"Sofiyivka" is considered the "Snake" fountain, located in the middle of the Lower Lake.

Grotto of Tantalus

Here, the snake, opening its mouth wide, throws a stream of water to a height of up to 18 meters. The magnificent fountain is famous for the fact that its design is ingeniously simple. Water pressure provides a height difference between the Lower and Upper Ponds, and thus pumps are not used. Another fountain in the park is the Semistruy fountain, built during the initial period of the park's construction. The fountain is a round pool, in the middle of which there is an openwork bronze vase. From the central part of the vase, powerful jets of water shoot up, the height of which reaches five meters.

Pavilion Pheasant

The park also contains the grotto of Scylla, made of pink granite, to the right of which is the Belvedere site, where the statue of Apollo Belvedere once stood. Another part of the park is the Champs Elysees. At the entrance lies a granite boulder, and next to it is a tetrahedral granite column. On a green meadow there is a large granite vase, and then there is a section of stones that differ in size - the Cretan labyrinth. The upper lake of the park is famous for its island, on which a pavilion with exotic plants stands out.

pink pavilion

This is the Island of Love lined with granite. Previously, a ferry or boats went to the island, and then in 1853 a wooden bridge was built for pedestrians on stone supports. On the shores of the Upper Lake is the Amsterdam Lock, installed during the initial period of the construction of the park and intended for the passage of boats from the Upper Lake to the underground river called Acheron and back. The river Acheron has a length of 211 m underground, and its total length is more than 223 m, the depth of the river reaches one meter.

Chinese gazebo

In the northern part of Sofiyivka there is an English park, presented in the form of a triangle. Grows in the park the largest number exotic trees and shrubs of high value and of interest to lovers of ornamental crops. The famous Sofiyivka park is truly a world masterpiece of landscape art. This is a park consisting of several parks, admiring the compositions of water, earth, architectural structures and sculptures, which are based on scenes from Ancient Greece.

The idea of ​​Sofiyivka park - Uman
It was fashionable in the 18th century to have luxurious parks in the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, the Prussian and French kingdoms and on the territory of adjacent Poland. Thus, the well-known secular lady Sofia Pototskaya, the daughter of an impoverished Greek merchant and a favorite of European kings, after visiting Countess Radzivil and walking around Arcadia Park, which combined elements of Greek mythology with romantic style, wrote to her husband: “After dinner, we went to see Arcadia. It's hard to imagine something better and more romantic. You know Arcadia, but you saw her 10 years ago. Imagine how young trees can grow in 10 years, and how much has been done here to improve this place in the park, perennials have been planted that should eventually decorate the park .. I am madly in love with Arcadia; there is not a single type of flowers and exotic decorative leafy plants in the world that would not grow here. Walking through the gardens of Arcadia, I felt that at the height of summer I was experiencing spring again, and each tree seemed to say: “I feel good here!” Who loved his wife and owned large lands in the Chernihiv province, along which the Bagno River flowed, Shchensy Pototsky decided to give Sophia a gift - a piece of her homeland - Greece in Uman. This is how the idea of ​​​​creating Sofiyivka Park was born, named after its owner Sophia Pototskaya.

Before incarnationSofiyivka park Uman
The engineer and artillery officer Ludwig Metzel was entrusted to embody the idea of ​​​​creating an amazing park, who enthusiastically set about creating a landscape masterpiece. It was decided to take the Bagno river as the basis of the park, the channel of which flows in beautiful bends throughout the entire territory of the future park and provides water for the system of lakes - the main decoration of Sofiyivka. Since the riverbed was rocky, it was renamed Kamenka, since then it has been called that, and its first name Bagno remained only in historical reference books. Initially, Potocki wanted to see the park in English style, with picturesque hillocks and lawns and numerous green islands. However, the architect and topographer, and first of all, the competent engineer Metzel decided to create not a piece of England, but a piece of Greece, in which every grotto, every stone and every waterfall is related to ancient Greek mythology. Since Greece is a country of rocks and mountains, it was decided to structure the park itself with huge boulders and stones that were brought from Russia, Odessa and local quarries. Grottoes, playgrounds, gazebos, waterfalls - everything is based on huge stones and rocks, hewn in a special way. Many of them symbolize certain places of ancient Hellas, and statues of ancient Greek gods, mythological heroes and philosophers are scattered throughout the park, and each of them has its own stone area. Cretan labyrinth, Grotto of Calypso, Grotto of fear and doubt and the island of Anti-Circe, Fr. Acheron rest or are based on huge boulders that are not subject to time. Statues made of Italian white marble were ordered by Metzel at the beginning of construction, in 1796 in Italy, from where they came by sea and were delivered from Odessa throughout the entire construction. Statues of Apollo Belvedere, Socrates, Homer, Apollo of Florence, Cupid, Paris, Orpheus, Socrates, Venus the Bather still adorn the paths and picturesque corners of Sofiyivka (The most beautiful parks in the world)

Water
One of the main attractions of Sofiyivka is a ridge of lakes, which are interconnected by buried underground in some places, and in some places by the waters of the Kamenka River flowing through the ground. The first, or Upper Pond, is interesting in that it contains an artificial fountain, the water in which beats due to physical laws - water level differences in the Upper and Lower Ponds. No wonder the chief architect Ludwig Metzel was a military engineer. Initially, the fountain spouted from a ridge of stones, but later they installed a huge snake, from the mouth of which an amazing fountain beats to this day. The landscape of the park is used in such a way that each subsequent pond opens up completely unexpectedly: from behind a turn, behind a huge artificial rock or from a platform. Every spring and stream is successfully used - with the help of stones and beams, pools, artificial springs and waterfalls are equipped. The magnificent engineering and water structure is crowned by an underwater river, which symbolizes Lethe and along which Charon's boat runs to this day. The main thing is not to forget to give the Eternal Boatman mythological gold coins.

HistorySofiyivka park

The park was presented to the owner for a name day in 1802 and was a model of the landscape gardening architect of that time and was kept in perfect order. It was visited by eminent magnates and monarchs, and more than one poem was composed. This continued until the moment when the owner of the park, Shchensy Potocki, died, and the park passed into the possession of his son from his first marriage, a spendthrift and a gambler. Difficult times came for the park and they literally began to “pull it apart” until ... in 1832, after the Polish Uprising, it was confiscated by a royal decree and turned into Tsaritsyn Park. After that, Sofiyivka belonged to the military and was in the department of the Office of Military Settlements, gardeners. In the middle of the 19th century, it was transferred to the Main School of Gardeners of Russia and, finally, in 1929, it was given the status of a state reserve. The biggest misfortune that befell Sofiyivka in more than 200 years of existence was disaster 1979-1980, when after a frosty and very snowy winter melt waters many sculptures, bridges, gateways and small architectural forms of the park were destroyed.
Truth and fiction

Undoubtedly, many stories and legends are associated with such a park. They say, for example, that the park was created chaotically and the peasants created many sections themselves. The truth is that if Sofiyivka had not been built according to a clear and well-thought-out plan from the very beginning, it would not have existed for such a long time and would not have become a masterpiece. The lake system alone requires an elaborate engineering plan. It is said that the serfs worked for free. The truth is that the general chinsh, which Pototsky had established long before the creation of Sofiyivka, assumed a monthly wage for serfs. The only thing that the peasants were unhappy with was the delay in paying wages. Today you will not surprise anyone with this, but the serfs 200 years ago were outraged by this. An interesting fact is that Sofiyivka also brought income to its owners. For example, a large amount of cauliflower, a special variety of cherries, melons, watermelons, and in the autumn of 1803 even more than 30 thousand silkworm cocoons were sent from Uman every year under the Pototskys. One of the legends says that if you lead the betrothed between the two towers of the ancient Roman goddess of the hearth Vesta, then the marriage will be long and happy. Another legend is connected with Venus the bather. To recover a sick person, it is enough to drink from the source. The wish will come true for the one on whom not a single drop falls while he passes with inside, behind the streams of water of the waterfall.