Bila Tserkva. The "Oleksandriia" Arboretum. Records and Frozen Music
The "Oleksandriia" Arboretum is a paradisiacal corner of nature, created by the elements — water, earth and air — and polished by the imagination and the hands of architects, gardeners and sculptors. Perhaps it is not the most hyped or first-rate of the monuments of landscape-garden art, but it is no less stunning, and in age, area and number of plants it is a record-holder in Ukraine.
Bila Tserkva. The "Oleksandriia" Arboretum
"Oleksandriia" gives the impression of frozen music, with compositions in various genres. Here you can hear both a singer-songwriter's tune with an informal approach to its theme, and a complex symphony of several movements performed by an orchestra, and a lyrical romance, and musical folklore.
One of the largest parks in Eastern Europe was founded in 1788 and is located in the town of Bila Tserkva in Kyiv region.
Lebedyne (Swan) Lake
In the 18th century, for suppressing peasant revolts, the Polish hetman Ksawery Branicki received the lands of the Bila Tserkva starostwo as a domain and gave the estate in Bila Tserkva to his enterprising wife Alexandra Vasylivna, the niece of Prince Potemkin.
The name of Alexandra Branicka is wrapped in legend; rumour had it that Catherine II's favourite lady-in-waiting was the empress's illegitimate daughter. From birth the child was raised in the family of the illustrious prince's sister, Marfa Engelhardt. But the empress did not forget the girl with the masculine name Alexandra, which means "defender", and married her off to an influential nobleman, thereby strengthening the unstable peace with Poland.
The purposeful and strong-willed woman set about putting the estate in order at once and chose, in the west of the town, an oak grove with age-old trees for the future green masterpiece.
Lebedyne Lake. The Chinese Bridge
Captivated by the idea of creating a park like those of the capital, the countess decided to dedicate her brainchild to Grigory Potemkin, who had already departed this world and bequeathed a considerable inheritance. She even planned to build a mausoleum; the prince's body had been embalmed. But with Paul I's accession to power the attitude towards the empress's favourite changed, and the grand projects to immortalise the memory of her beloved uncle were never realised.
The Branickis fell into disgrace and settled in Bila Tserkva, and the park received a name in honour of its founder — "Oleksandriia".
The master plan was drawn up by the architect Muffeau, invited from France.
The followers of this author of large-scale designs, renowned European connoisseurs of park art, made every effort in building the palace, the pavilions and the colonnade, and in creating numerous sculptural and decorative compositions.
The "Turkish House" pavilion
The ruins on the Laznevyi Pond
From America and Europe exotic plants were brought in, which together with the age-old trees formed the basis of the landscape park in the English style.
In the 19th century, the guests of the Branickis' Bila Tserkva residence were imperial figures and titled personages, whom the hosts received at the highest level.
Stone benches in the Eastern Ravine
The tsar's family had its own corner of the park, and the trees planted by the emperors' own hands were fenced off with a wrought-iron railing.
The sculpture of the Mother of God. The Island of Dreams
The park's landscapes inspired G. P. Derzhavin, A. S. Pushkin, T. H. Shevchenko and other famous poets and artists.
The memorial plaque to the classic poets on the museum facade
The Decembrists Pestel, Muravyov-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Riumin waltzed at a ball at the Branickis' on the eve of the uprising and their subsequent arrest.
The memorial plaque to the famous Decembrists — visitors to the park
With the abolition of serfdom and the loss of cheap labour, the park's development stalled, and revolutions and wars did irreparable harm.
The Sribnyi Serpanok (Silver Haze) Lake and the arched bridge
The most exquisite architectural structures were destroyed and plundered by the Bolsheviks. After drinking their fill of the vintage wines stored in the cellars and once supplied to the court of the tsar-father, the builders of socialism-communism, in a drunken haze, burned down the palace and the outbuildings.
What the aristocrats' chambers and the other creations of the 18th-century architects looked like can be seen in copies of Napoleon Orda's drawings and in lithographs kept in the "Oleksandriia" museum, the former gardener's house.
The museum and the administrative building
Since 1955, restoration and reconstruction work has been carried out in the park.
The dance pavilion
The dance pavilion once had 4 rooms with valuable works of art and a large ballroom, where brilliant couples danced mazurkas and polonaises. On the facade of the surviving building there are plans to recreate the decorative stucco.
The dance pavilion
By the entrance stand two sculptures of the classical era, acquired by Alexandra Branicka in Paris. The bronze statues had been commissioned by Napoleon for a celebration marking the conclusion of peace with England, but this did not come to pass, and the artist was forced to sell the figures of the god of the Sun, the goddess of the hunt, and the sculpture of a warrior cheaply.
The sculpture of Apollo
The sculpture of Diana with a doe
The central place in the park is occupied by the Great Glade, with an area of 10 hectares.
The magnificent Great Glade
This vast meadow is called a living Hermitage for the picturesqueness of its landscape, the uniqueness of its green compositions and its record number of plants — 86 species of trees, of which 9 species and 82 specimens are age-old trees.
Running on the grass cover is not allowed; benches are set out around the perimeter. One of them is dedicated to the members of the Southern Society of the Decembrists — Pestel, Muravyov-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Riumin, who mulled over the details of their conspiracy while staying in "Oleksandriia".
The Decembrists' bench
Through a branching of picturesque avenues, the compositional core is linked with the other zones, interesting for their names and their content.
The oak grove with age-old oaks up to 27 metres tall occupies the largest area — 48.2 ha.
Unfortunately, in recent years the condition of these natives has worsened, and protective measures have to be applied to the ailing branches. The sound of a working chainsaw is heard constantly, which disturbs the artistic and aesthetic appeal of the green expanse.
The park is beautiful at any time of year, but the lilac garden should be visited in May. The coniferetum — a plot for growing coniferous plants — was laid out in 2008-2009. The compositions, created with their colouring and height in mind, can only be admired from the paths beyond the boundary of the sector.
The rose garden did not delight with the many colours of the queen of flowers. Perhaps the aridity of the climate affects the state of the blooms.
Now and then, at the crossings, signposts catch the eye, of which the park is not overly full, and so without a schematic map it is not easy to find your bearings on the grounds.
Fully restored in 1959, the horseshoe-shaped structure with 14 columns is distinguished by an acoustic property — a word spoken in a whisper at one end of the colonnade is perfectly audible at the other. Brass bands made use of this for a polyphonic sound in their musical pieces.
The "Echo" Colonnade
The side risalits were decorated with bas-reliefs depicting mother and child, while the shop premises placed inside have spoiled the aesthetic look and the architectural integrity of the original building.
The "Echo" Colonnade. The shop in the risalit premises
The cascades of ponds, of which there are about two dozen, give the park a special charm. The reservoirs, filled with spring water, have been settled by swans and flocks of ducks.
The Sribnyi Serpanok Pond
Every little bridge across the mirror surface is a viewing platform and a romantic work of art.
The Sribnyi Serpanok Pond. The bridge
The bridge to the Island of Dreams
The most famous — the Chinese Bridge, so named for the gazebo's resemblance to a Buddhist pagoda — is already two hundred years old.
The Chinese Bridge
The sculpture of a Chinese monk or sage and of a Chinese woman helps visitors fulfil their wishes, if you ask very hard and rub the man's beard and the woman's little nose.
The sculpture of a Chinese sage with an umbrella and a little mirror
The artificial waterfalls are formed by the difference in height between the ponds and the stepped stone slopes, down which crystal streams flow.
Small fountains are an ornament of the park and a place for relaxation.
The lower tier of the ruined castle serves as a dam and as a support for the decoratively arranged ruins, characteristic of the landscape parks of the 18th century.
On one side of the ruins a waterfall murmurs quietly, and on the other a view opens onto the picturesque Laznevyi Pond.
The "Ruins"
By the stone steps you can climb to the tops of the gentle hills, passing many-tonne monoliths, or descend into the deep ravines, in which about 50 springs gush forth.
The "Lion" radon spring has a constant temperature of +9°C and its stone guardians — the great and the little kings of all the beasts.
The stone lions by the radon spring
Along the path at the bottom of the Eastern Ravine, in a south-easterly direction, you can reach the metal figure of a warrior, whom people here call the Gladiator.
The Eastern Ravine
The sculpture of a warrior (the Gladiator)
The sculpture of another defender of "Oleksandriia" — the Guardian Angel — was unveiled in 1993. On the pedestal are depicted the arboretum's popular sights and a bas-relief of the organiser and founder of the green pearl, Alexandra Branicka.
The sculpture of the Guardian Angel
To the gardener August Ens a cast-iron column is dedicated, set up by the park's owners in the middle of the 19th century as a token of gratitude for 53 years of conscientious work.
The column in honour of the gardener August Ens
To get to know all the sights of the park, a single day will be too little, but even a few hours' walk along the avenues and paths will bring immense pleasure. Great thanks to all the park's workers for the beauty and the labour.
Stone monoliths
A ravine
On the grounds of "Oleksandriia" there is a car park and several cafes are open. In the western part of the park you can visit a zoo.
Entry to the grounds costs 25 hryvnias for an adult, and 10 hryvnias for children or an adult with a small child. Privileged categories of visitors are free of charge; pensioners pay 2 hryvnias.
A little donkey
You can get to Bila Tserkva by train from Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson. From the capital and Myronivka — by suburban train. From the railway station — by minibus No. 13 in 10-15 minutes to the central entrance, the northern entrance to the park, and the even more distant entrance from the Skvyra highway.
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