Rest in Crimea can turn into an interesting adventure that will remain in memory forever. The main thing is to plan your visit to the most interesting and exciting sights correctly. One of them is the noble Vorontsov Palace, which definitely deserves attention. The building is located in a picturesque location by the sea and the foot of Ai-Petri. It is surrounded by a magnificent park, which harmoniously complements the amazing view. A visit to the palace will present truly unforgettable emotions and the opportunity to feel like a guest of the eminent prince.
Vorontsov Palace in Crimea: History
The exquisite Vorontsov Palace combines the rigor of English architecture and the luxury of Indian palaces. The building is in harmony with the local landscape and mountain panorama. It also has an interesting history that dates back to 1828.
The construction of the palace began on the order of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, known for his courage and participation in many military events. He personally chose the perfect place for his estate and invited Edward Blor as an Englishman architect. The architect led the process remotely and never came to the construction site. The process of erecting the palace itself was quite lengthy and took a long 20 years - from 1828 to 1848.
The estate of the Count was built of very strong stone, which must be handled with confidence and skill - diabase. It was he who perfectly decorated the exterior of the building. The stone was hand-worked by specialists in stone-cutting, which were called from central Russia. The cost of building the palace reached a tidy sum - 9 million rubles in silver.
Vorontsov himself did not live in the palace for a very long time, since he had to leave for the Caucasus by appointment. However, his daughter and her children settled in it. Then, after the death of the count, the estate was inherited by his son. After the revolution and the change of power, the palace along with the lands were nationalized. In 1945, the Vorontsov estate became the residence of the English delegation for some time. In the ceremonial dining room met the heads of the union states - Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt.
Later, the palace acted both in the role of the state NKVD and in the role of a sanatorium. Only in 1956 did it become a museum. Nowadays, it is very popular among tourists who come even from abroad. Here you can see various works of painting, applied art, sculpture. Also old documents, lithographs, drawings.
What else is interesting Vorontsov Palace in Yalta?
The general impression of the grandeur and sophistication of the palace is complemented by the unique Vorontsov Park, which arouses the same interest of tourists as the estate itself. It allows you to enjoy unique plants that have been carefully selected, taking into account the local climate and topography. They were brought to the Crimea from different parts of the world, in total there are about 200 different types of vegetation in the park.
The park was created by a German gardener - Karl Kebach, who gladly set to work. He planned the territory on the principle of an amphitheater with a clear structure. The park itself was supposed to keep in touch with the palace and complement the chosen style in architecture. Karl Kebach managed to achieve the task, because the park fits perfectly into the overall concept.
The park is conditionally divided into lower and upper. Its lower territory is decorated in the style of Renaissance gardens. There are elegant fountains, stone benches, Byzantine columns, beautiful vases, marble sculptures. There is also access to the beach.
The upper territory was created in the English style of romanticism, which was characterized by naturalness and naturalness. There are shady ponds, a well-thought-out system of lakes, picturesque glades, sections of the Crimean forest, rocky fragments, grottoes, small waterfalls. This part of the park was conceived as an impeccable place to contemplate the mountains and the sea.
The park almost always remains green, as pine, spruce, cypress, cedar, and fir grow here. In the warm season delicate magnolias bloom here, amazing cercis, various exotic shrubs. The territory of the park captivates with its beauty and elegance; many guests of the peninsula often visit only the park and enjoy the exterior of the palace. Photos of the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea and its original park will be an excellent souvenir that will remind you of an unforgettable vacation.
How to get to the Vorontsov Palace in Yalta?
The exact address where the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea is located: Alupka, Palace Highway 18. There are several ways to get there:
- Take public transportation. If you get from the bus station of Yalta, you should use buses No. 107 or No. 115. The stop at which you will need to get off is called the "Bus Station" and it is located in Alupka. Then you need to go to the western gate and through them enter the territory of the palace. You can also get to the complex from the city center. To do this, use minibus No. 132, which will take you to the final stop called the Vorontsov Palace. Then you need to go to the north front door of the building.
- Get by car. This travel option is the most comfortable and fast. From Yalta you should go to the Yalta-Sevastopol highway and move to the Alupka sign. Travel time may take 15-20 minutes.
- Take a taxi. In Yalta, you can order a taxi directly to your hotel and from there drive to the palace. Such a trip will be as comfortable as possible, but its cost is more expensive than other options.
- Take a boat trip. The journey begins from the sea station in Yalta, from which a boat leaves every 2 hours. Travel time will take about 35 minutes. A ticket costs 100 rubles, the price is quite affordable. You will need to get off the boat in Alupka and climb a little up, towards the Vorontsov park.
The price of a ticket to visit the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea is 350 rubles for adults and 200 for children. This price includes a sightseeing tour. Visiting thematic exhibitions in the palace is paid separately if you want to see them. A tour of the park of the complex is also paid separately. In the palace there is a souvenir shop where you can buy little things for memory.
Where to relax after visiting the sights of Yalta?
The best choice for a perfect vacation is the unique Villa Elena Hotel & Residences. Here guests can enjoy the atmosphere of luxury, which gives incredible home comfort. You can stay in a magnificent historic building, which has its own unusual history since 1912. A modern building is also accessible, which will delight guests with elegant interiors. On the territory of Villa Elena you can visit the restaurant, relax by the pool, spend time in the spa.
Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve, also known as the Vorontsov Palace, was built in the period 1828-1848. designed by the English architect Edward Blor as the Crimean residence of Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. When creating it, the local landscape was used, and the main feature of the palace is a mixture of several diametrically opposed architectural styles.
The entrance to the palace is more like a castle of the European Middle Ages.
The palace is built of especially hard dolerite stone, the natural reserves of which were at the site of the future structure. This is a frozen magma that used to be called diabase. Dolerite is characterized by a high hardness of 6-7 units on the Mohs scale. This means that this material is so hard that it is used for paving roads, and can only be processed with diamond.
It sounds even more amazing when you find out that the palace was built on the fortune of serfs from the Vladimir and Moscow provinces, working manually with the most primitive tools.
This narrow corridor between two similar to the fortress walls is called Shuvalovsky passage. Counts Shuvalov were relatives of the Vorontsovs. And somewhere here were the apartments of Sophia - the daughter of Mikhail Semenovich.
Through the passage we get into the courtyard. Here, the textured processing of the walls with a “torn” stone is applied. We did not inspect museum expositions, confining ourselves to an external inspection.
The northern facade of the palace. Here you can already see the features not of a medieval fortress, but of a 16th-century English suburban palace, for which large window openings and tall chimneys are typical.
The western part of the palace is made in the neo-Gothic style.
At the Vorontsov Palace there is a park, founded about 200 years ago, which has more than 200 species of trees and shrubs from around the world. The famous German gardener-architect Karl Kebach was specially invited to create it.
On particularly interesting and rare specimens, tablets are installed with the name, homeland and approximate age. For example, it is an eastern plane tree from the western Mediterranean, 190 years old.
The park ensemble consists of upper and lower parks. The upper park is an array of natural diabase, it is also called "Alupka chaos." Through all these stones and plants, paths are harmoniously laid.
Through the park we approach the eastern facade.
On the south terrace, a wide staircase from the same diorite leads to the facade, on the sides of which are sculptures of lions made in the workshop of the Italian sculptor Bonanni. The southern facade itself is made in the Arabic style and with oriental splendor. This is the most beautiful place of the palace.
A horseshoe-shaped arch, a two-tier arch, gypsum carvings in a niche where the Tudor flower pattern and lotus motif are intertwined. On the niche fresco there is a sixfold repeated inscription with the dictum from the Koran: "And there is no god but Allah."
The palace is located right at the foot of Ai-Petri Mountain, we will also climb it, but a little later.
And what kind of view opens onto the sea from the southern facade ...
The area in the Alupka region is rich in water, which made it possible to create more than a dozen diverse fountains in the Vorontsov Park. Most of them were designed by W. Gunt.
The lower park is also diverse and begins with a gentle relief. It borders the Vorontsov Palace and is decorated in a classic park style.
And on the right is a large rose garden.
After the revolution, the Vorontsov Palace was nationalized, the remaining property was supplemented by collections from other south-coast palaces, and in 1921 a historical and household museum was opened here.
During the Patriotic War, Crimea was occupied by German fascists. During the retreat, the Germans wanted to blow up the palace, but the explosion was not possible, this was prevented by museum workers.
In February 1945, during the Crimean Conference, the Alupka Palace was provided to the English delegation led by W. Churchill, who even wanted to buy it.
From 1945 to 1955 there was a state building, referred to in documents as “special object No. 3”.
As a museum, the palace was reopened to visitors in 1956.
On the shores of the Black Sea is a magnificent monument of architecture of the XIX century - the Vorontsov Palace. Its construction went on for 20 years and was completed in 1848 under the guidance of the famous British architect, the famous Edward Blor. The masterpiece of the era of romanticism was conceived as the residence of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, Governor General of the Novorossiysk Territory.
The count himself chose the place for the construction of the palace - on a beautiful cape near Ai-Petri Mountain in Crimea. The author skillfully combined English and Neo-Moorish styles with Gothic and brilliantly entered the building into the existing landscape. Blor had never been there before, but according to the sketches he “turned” the building so that its outline coincides with the outline of the mountains.
In the construction of the building, diabase was used - a stone of greenish-gray color. It was mined in local parts. The drawings in the design of the building were very complex, the stone could crack during processing, so the best craftsmen who built temples in Central Russia were called to carry out masonry work.
So in the unremarkable and little-known up to this moment Tatar village Alupka there appeared a castle of five buildings with numerous passages, stairs and courtyards. At the main staircase is the Lion Terrace. Six lions “sit” on both sides of a magnificent staircase of white marble - one “sleeps”, the other “wakes up”, the rest “stay awake” and “growl”.
The Vorontsov Palace was the first in Russia to build a water pipe with hot water and a sewage system.
The construction of the palace complex took a huge amount at that time - about 9 million rubles in silver. But she was on the shoulder of Count Vorontsov - the richest landowner of the Russian Empire.
History of creation
The history of the Vorontsov Palace is closely connected with events in the country. Soon after the settlement, the count had to leave a new house in connection with his appointment to the Caucasus. The palace changed its owners - over the years, the daughter of Count Sofya Mikhailovna, the son Semyon Mikhailovich, the widow Maria Vasilievna lived in it. In the 1880s the building was empty and was abandoned.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the relatives of the Vorontsov-Dashkovs established sanatoriums and guest houses there. After the revolution, the land was nationalized. In the 20s, as in some other large noble estates on the southern coast of Crimea, a museum was created there, called Alupkinskiy. The collection of the museum was badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. The Nazis exported more than 500 works of painting and graphics, and not much was later returned.
After the war, the State NKVD cottage was located in the palace. And, finally, in 1956 the Crimean State Museum of Fine Arts opened, which later became part of the Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve. Today, there are collections of paintings, sculptures and applied art, ancient documents telling about the construction of the palace.
Exhibitions and expositions
Exhibitions and expositions are located in many rooms of the Vorontsov Palace - in the halls, the Shuvalovsky wing, the Guest building, the Economic building, and the conference hall.
So, guests can see the expositions “Ceremonial Halls of the Main Building”, “House of Count A.P. Shuvalov ”,“ Butler’s Apartment ”,“ Sculpture of the Southern Terraces ”,“ Vorontsov Cuisine ”, the exhibition“ Under the Plane ”,“ Porcelain Pantry ”and others.
Reasonable prices are available to all categories of visitors. The cost of a ticket for adults is from 50 to 300 rubles, for students, pensioners and children from 16 to 18 years old - from 25 to 150 rubles. A “single ticket” costs 650 and 325 rubles, respectively.
For example, on an ongoing basis, the museum has an exposition “Front rooms of the Main building of the Vorontsov Palace”. These premises have not changed much since ancient times. Decorations, furniture, even portraits on the walls retained their original appearance in the traditional English manner. During the tour, guests will see the main halls of the main building, the Chinese office, the lobby, the Blue Living Room, the Winter Garden, the Main Dining Room, and the billiard room.
In the kitchen building of the Economic Courtyard there is an exposition "Vorontsov Cuisine". In this part of the palace, the servant not only worked, but also lived. Three rooms of this building are opened for visitors, in which you can get acquainted with the interior of the palace kitchen. The first hall is spacious, located on an area of \u200b\u200b60 square meters and a height of two floors. In the center there is a cast-iron stove decorated with cast ornament. Antique dishes, sinks, samovars, cookbooks, the interior of the pantry create a vivid unforgettable impression.
In the conference hall of the palace opened the exhibition "Reserve Tauris." She will work until March 31, 2018. Visitors will be able to see 60 works of art from the museum, their authors are domestic and foreign artists. The paintings depict the unreal beauty of the nature of Crimea and palaces, parks, city streets, archeological monuments. The works were created in the first half of the 19th century, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, in Soviet times. All of them represent the heritage of Crimeans, which is stored for future generations.
The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka (Crimea) is rightfully considered one of the pearls of the peninsula. An elegant and, at the same time, magnificent structure is located at the foot of Ai-Petri Mountain. It is surrounded by a unique park complex, and a magnificent view of the Black Sea opens from the main staircase.
The palace complex organically fits into the surrounding landscape due to the fact that its location corresponds to the mountainous terrain. That is why the palace has such an original image. The Vorontsov Palace in Crimea and the park adjacent to it often became a film set. At least 17 films have been recognized by the general public.
Ticket prices at the Vorontsov Palace in 2020
Ticket prices are indicated on the official website of the complex. They depend on the selected exhibits and excursions.
- Separate expositions and exhibitions: adults - from 50 to 350 rubles, students, pensioners and adolescents 16-18 years old - from 25 to 200 rubles.
- Guided tours of the park: adults - 100 rubles, students, pensioners and adolescents 16-18 years old - 70 rubles.
- Excursions in the park on an electric car: 800 rubles. from a group of 4-20 people.
- For preferential and free categories of visitors, as well as for children from 7 to 16 years: a fee of 70 rubles is charged. for using audio guides.
- “Single ticket” (all expositions and exhibitions): adults - 900 rubles, students, pensioners and adolescents 16-18 years old - 500 rubles.
Opening hours of the Vorontsov Palace
You can visit the exhibition, temporary and permanent exhibitions daily from 09:00 to 17:00. At the same time, the Main Halls and Southern Terraces are open on Saturdays until 20:00. Guided tours are held in the palace park, but only if a group of 15 to 20 people gathers. There are walking and electric vehicle options. A “single ticket” can be purchased on any day except Monday and Wednesday.
History of the Vorontsov Palace
The first owner of the palace was His Excellency Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, a descendant of an ancient family known since the 14th century, an order-bearing hero who participated in many military campaigns and retired with the rank of Field Marshal, Novorossiysk and Bessarabian Governor-General, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences . After his death in 1856, the palace was alternately owned by the close relatives of the prince. After the revolution, the object was nationalized.
The period of construction of the Vorontsov Palace in the Crimea refers to the period 1828-1848. Obrochnye serfs were involved in the heavy work, and hereditary masons were carried out in relief, moreover, by hand. First built the dining building, then the Central. Already in the forties of the 19th century there was a billiard room, outbuildings, towers, guest and household buildings, as well as a library. The sappers worked diligently over the ledges of the South Terrace. Thanks to them, the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka acquired a gorgeous front staircase, on the pedestals of which in 1948 lions were erected, made by the Italian master Giovanni Bonnani. This was the final chord of the design of the general ensemble of the palace complex.
Already in 1921, the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea, which had not changed its common name, turned into a museum. During the Second World War, the exhibits did not have time to hide, so many of them were taken out by the invaders. The amounts stolen turned out to be colossal. During the Yalta Conference (February 1945), the palace temporarily turned into the residence of W. Churchill and his retinues. Until 1956, the government cottage was located here. Subsequently, a decision was made to reopen the museum, which still operates, but in a new status. In the 90s of the last century, the complex became known as the Palace and Park Museum-Reserve.
Architecture
The appearance of the building shows elements of different eras and a successful combination of architectural styles - strict English, with a direction for neo-Gothic, and lush oriental, neo-Moorish. It is interesting that the palace began to be built according to one project (Italian Francesco Boffo and Englishman Thomas Harrison), and ended - according to another (the famous British eclecticist architect Edward Blor). By the way, the latter, while working on the project, did not visit Alupka, as he was too busy with orders from the royal family in his homeland.
The main material for the construction of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is diabase, superior in strength to granite stones. The museum-reserve includes five separate buildings, patios, a terrace, a front and additional stairs, as well as a park area.
Palace inside
The official website of the Vorontsov Palace offers some interesting exhibits. The main exposition of the complex is the Main Halls located in the main building of the complex. Their decoration has been preserved almost in its original form. The decoration and decoration of the State Office are made in accordance with all the rules of the English style. There are portraits of the first owner, as well as his associates who participated in the battle of Borodino. The Chinese office is able to surprise visitors with artfully decorated furniture and rice straw mats, which occupy most of the surface of the walls. The lobby with profiled wooden ceilings, simple furniture and fireplaces decorated with diabase portals is adjacent to the vestibule, which has an embroidered image of a Persian shah. The blue living room is striking in its sophistication and amazing stucco molding, once made by a serf master.
In the Winter Garden, you can see curly ficus, preserved from 1838, and rare exotic plants. Here are interesting sculptures and a fountain. The main dining room of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka (Crimea) resembles a knight’s castle. It attracts attention the original balcony for musicians and the fountain, in shape resembling a fireplace. Rounding out the Ceremonial Halls is the Billiard Room with artistic paintings placed on the walls.
The next exhibition includes a one-story Shuvalovsky outbuilding, in which only people close to the family of M.S. Vorontsov's daughter had access. The cozy house has several rooms, each of which is interesting in its own way. Then you can go to the butler’s apartment, located in the House of Welfare, and see how the prince’s maintenance staff lived, getting a full board, and even a salary. Here you can look into the Vorontsov cuisine. And finally, another exposition of the “Southern Terraces” includes the front staircase itself, sculptures of lions, flowering flower beds and cascading fountains.
In addition to the main objects of the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, temporary and permanent exhibitions are located on its territory. Among them are Russian and Western European porcelain faience, paintings by artists of different periods, including the second half of the 20th century, sculptures, graphics, etc.
Park of the Vorontsov Palace
The Italian regular style is characterized by the lower part of the park. Around the palace complex grow mainly conifers - spruce, fir, cedar, pine and cypress, so the area always remains in greenery. In spring and summer, magnolias, exotic shrubs and amazing cercis bloom in the park, whose trunks in April are densely covered with purple-crimson flowers resembling moths. The park of the Vorontsov Palace is incredibly beautiful, and walks along it give incredible pleasure.
Vorontsov Palace - how to get
There are several options for visiting the palace and park complex in Alupka. Two routes pass through the city - the upper and the lower, so you can get here from different settlements of the peninsula connected by the South Coast and Sevastopol Highways.
From Yalta
On the route Yalta - Vorontsov Palace regularly runs two buses - number 132 from the center. It stops within walking distance of the attraction - just a 10-minute walk. The minibus stopping between Yalta and Alupka (Nos. 107 and 115) is located a bit further from the complex, a 15-minute walk.
From Sevastopol
You can take the Sevastopol - Alupka direct bus ride to the Vorontsov Palace to the Nursery stop and walk.
From Alushta
The path of Alushta - the Vorontsov Palace consists of two stages. First you need to get on the Crimean trolleybus number 52 to Yalta, and then change to a bus or taxi (description above).
From Simferopol
From Simferopol, to the trolleybus station Yalta, located near the Avtovokzal, you can get from Ploshchad Lenina by shuttle bus No. 54 or 63 to the shuttle station Ploshchad Kuybysheva and transfer to trolleybus No. 52 to Yalta. Next, the path to the Vorontsov Palace - how to get there, described above. Faster to Yalta can be reached by intercity motor transport.
Crimean taxi drivers and private cabmen know very well where the Vorontsov Palace is located, so they deliver passengers not only from Yalta, but also from Foros, Gurzuf, Alushta and even Simferopol. If you are traveling by car yourself, you will have to take care of the navigator in advance.
Important informationUntil October 2017, the Vorontsov Palace could be reached by sea. Currently, Alupkinsk berth is closed due to its destruction
The Vorontsov Palace in Alupka is one of the most visited Yalta palaces and the only one I visited, and even then by accident. Not that I didn’t want to see it, but really didn’t want to do it in the summer, too crowded there at that time.
The palace was built in the English style, and in the construction there are elements of various eras, from the earliest forms to the 16th century. The farther from the west gate, the later the style of construction. English style is combined with neo-Moorish style. For example, Gothic chimneys resemble minarets of a mosque. The palace was built from 1828 to 1848 as the summer residence of the Governor General of the Novorossiysk Territory Count Vorontsov. It is interesting that the Vorontsov Palace is one of the first buildings in Russia, where for the comfort of living, a sewage system and water supply system were built.
The main facade of the Vorontsov Palace
The palace was owned by three generations of the Vorontsov family. Since 1921, a museum functioned in the palace complex. After the Great Patriotic War, for about 10 years, the territory of the Vorontsov Palace was a secret object and there was a summer residence for the party leadership. Now it is a museum again.
The Vorontsov Palace is located on the territory of the Alupka Park, which was created by the famous botanist and gardener Karl Antonovich Kebach for 25 years. He designed glades, placed trees, given their size. This was a matter of principle, for according to Karl’s plan, the trees should not have blocked the gorgeous view of the top of Ay-Petri Mountain.
The park is spread over an area of \u200b\u200b40 hectares. It is territorially divided into Upper and Lower Parks. The park is designed in such a way that it complements the local nature. It grows more than two hundred species of plants that were imported from the regions of North and South America, the Mediterranean. The cost of breaking up the park is two times higher than the construction of the palace itself. Up to 36,000 rubles were spent on maintaining the park in 1910 - a huge amount at that time.
Map of Vorontsov Park
The attraction of the park are piles of stones from frozen magma, thrown out by the volcano in ancient times, called “Big Chaos” and “Small Chaos”. These chaos were carefully inscribed in the layout of the park, dozens of paths, forming almost a maze, were laid through piles of stones, benches were set up, and viewing platforms were arranged. Separate blocks are entwined with ivy and wild grapes. Sometimes it is very difficult to believe that you are in a park, and not abandoned.
The park has a large number of fountains. Most of them were built according to the projects of W. Gunt.
In general, in Crimea there has long been a tradition of respect for water. The construction of the fountain, both in Muslim Crimea and in Russia, was considered a worthy affair, and even pious. Where at least some trickle flowed, a fountain was placed, decorated with a saying from the Koran or an emblem of the engineering department, sometimes a date was knocked out. Along the old roads, in the old Crimean settlements of these ancient fountains, many have been preserved, many are still functioning.
Three ponds were also artificially created on the territory of the park: Verkhny, Zerkalny and Swan. Maples, ash and dogwood grow around the ponds.
To decorate the bottom of Swan Lake, Count Vorontsov ordered 20 bags of semiprecious stones that were delivered by ship. In sunny weather, they created an indescribable beauty play of light.
The owner drives the ducks out of their possessions
A couple more interesting facts about the park, according to the guides. Vorontsov Park literally grew on blood, for the soil under the trees was richly fertilized with the blood of freshly killed animals. Each tree was assigned a separate gardener who did not sleep, did not eat, but watched his ward, cherished, and cherished.
Chilean Araucaria owes its name to the Araucans - Indians living in Chile, for whom the fruits of this tree form the basis of the diet. This instance is more than 130 years old. It develops poorly in our conditions. In its homeland, it grows to a height of 50 meters, has a trunk in diameter up to one meter. There are only five such trees in the Crimea. 5. The branches of Araucaria are covered with sharp thorns, therefore neither monkeys nor birds sit on them.
Chilean Araucaria
Crimean pine
Pistachio
Lower park
The Maria Fountain is based on the famous Bakhchisaray Fountain, sung by Pushkin. The fountain is made of white and colored marble and decorated with sinks and rosettes. Water drops in small drops from one bowl to another, forming a quiet, even rhythm of drops - “tears”.
Fountain "Mary" (fountain of Tears)
From the sea is the famous lion terrace.
The south entrance is decorated with oriental splendor. The Arabic inscription translates as: "And there is no winner except Allah."
Coral tree
Fountain of Bakhchisarai
I didn’t go inside the palace, I really do not like slender runs in the crowd. Maybe some other time I’ll visit.
Winter garden of the palace
During the Yalta Conference in February 1945, an English delegation headed by W. Churchill lived in the Vorontsov Palace. An interesting story is connected with him, which happened during a walk in the Churchill and Stalin park. Churchill, who really liked the sculpture of a sleeping lion, said that he looked like himself and suggested that Stalin buy it. Stalin refused this offer, but suggested to Churchill that if he answers his question correctly, then Stalin will give a sleeping lion. "What is the main finger on the hand?" - That was the question of Stalin. Churchill replied: "Of course, the index." “Wrong,” Stalin answered and twisted a figure out of his fingers, which is popularly called a cookie.
Sleeping lion
Sink Fountain
Sink Fountain
The south facade of the Vorontsov Palace and the Lion Terrace
