Vorontsov Park, which surrounds the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, is one of the most beautiful landscape parks in the Crimea. The territory of the park is 40 hectares. The upper part is located on a flat area around the palace, and the lower part descends in terraces along the mountain slope to the Black Sea coast.
Prince Vorontsov commissioned the creation of a park around his palace in the Crimea to the famous German gardener Karl Kebach. He was a hereditary gardener and botanist by education, so he was able to implement Vorontsov`s idea of creating a park where human reason and order triumph over the unbridled elements and chaos. The very difficult relief of the mountain slope allowed to create very beautiful landscapes. To plant trees and plants on a rocky slope, black soil had to be brought here from the Ukrainian steppes.
In most parks of the Crimea, gardeners tried to plant traditional plants and trees for the Crimea: pines, juniper and other drought-resistant plants. However, in Vorontsov Park, the count decided to collect exotic plants and trees from almost all continents. Now there are more than 200 species of trees and plants growing here. Many of them had to be specially acclimatized for the climate of the Southern coast of Crimea. One of the most valuable trees of the park is the Chilean Arakuria.
A walk through Vorontsov Park can be started near the northern facade of the palace, where the Potemkin Rock rises. This is a megalithic diabase stone, from which the entire palace is built. You can climb it to see the Vorontsov Palace courtyard from above. It also offers a beautiful view of Ai-Petri Mountain. From these stones, walking paths begin among the cascades of ponds, streams and waterfalls of Vorontsov Park. There are fountains in many places. Among them there is a Fountain of Tears, similar to the famous fountain in the Khan`s Palace of Bakhchisarai.
Near the ponds there is a rock garden called Little Chaos. Going up the slope, you can see a Big Chaos, similar to the collapse of huge stones. However, the composition of Chaos was created by stonemasons manually. Some of the stones can be climbed to get a better view of the surrounding landscapes.
On the southern side of the palace, stone terraces descend to the sea with a rather steep slope. There is a regular Vorontsov Park with flower beds, as well as alleys of cypresses and other trees. There is a Sycamore Alley and a Palm Alley near the western gate of the palace.
The viewing points of the regular park offer magnificent views of the sea coast. The terraces of the regular Vorontsov Park descend to the seashore. At the very bottom on the seashore there is a small pavilion called the Tea House. Near it, two megalithic blocks of diabase can be seen in the sea water: the Rock of Port-Georges and the Rock of Aivazovsky. Diabase Rocks are located 200 meters to the north.
