Foros Park is one of the best parks in the Crimea. It occupies an area of 70 hectares at the foot of the rocky Mountain Chelebi. This is the only place in Crimea where the rocks come so close to the seashore. The mountains close Foros from the northern winds, and this creates a favorable climate for growing the most exotic plants and trees.
Foros Park was founded on the site of the small estate of Tellesi, which Emperor Alexander I presented to Nikolay Rayevsky, the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. Rayevsky was a cavalry general who led the defense of the most difficult section on the Borodino battlefield. Then it was called the Rayevsky Battery.
Alexander Pushkin was very proud of his friendship with Nikolay Rayevsky. When Pushkin went to serve in Bessarabia in 1820, he fell ill with fever in Dnepropetrovsk, and was allowed to go to the Crimea to visit Rayevsky. However, during Pushkin`s visit to the Crimea in Foros, the Rayevskys did not have a home yet. They lived together with the poet in the house of the founder of Odessa, Duke Richelieu, in Gurzuf. Now the Pushkin Museum is located in this house.
Foros Park was founded in 1834, when the estate in Foros was inherited by his son Nikolai Rayevsky. He built himself a small house, but paid great attention to the development of the park. Nikolai was familiar with the director of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, so he was able to get seeds of rare trees for his Foros Park.
A new stage in the development of the Foros Park occurred in 1887, when the Raevsky family sold the 300-hectare estate to merchant Alexander Kuznetsov. He owned the largest tea company in Russia. The small cottage of the Raevsky Kuznetsov expanded, having built for himself a beautiful mansion in the classical style. It has survived to this day and is now called the Kuznetsov Palace. In Soviet times, it became one of the buildings of the Foros sanatorium. Kuznetsov in Foros also built the Foros Church of the Resurrection of Christ on the edge of the cliff, which became one of the symbols of these places.
Kuznetsov created a beautiful Foros Park around his palace. Architect Julius Clever created a terraced park with an area of 70 hectares. The lower decorative part of the park is located on 30 hectares, and the upper nature protection zone has been made on 40 hectares. Since Kuznetsov was ill with tuberculosis, Clever planted more than 200 species of coniferous trees in the Foros Park. Pines, cedars, firs, cypresses and other coniferous trees from all over the world are collected here.
The most beautiful part of Foros Park is called Paradise. It is a cascade of small ponds, where the most beautiful rare species of plants and trees are planted. They create the most beautiful landscapes of different climatic zones. This part of the Foros Park is located on the slope of the mountain above the Kuznetsov Palace. From the palace, alleys descend to the Beaches of Foros, where there are always a lot of vacationers in summer.
