Greetings, friends.
Who wants to come with me to explore South Park in Kaliningrad? What did I know about this park at the time of my arrival in Kaliningrad? I didn't know anything. I didn't even know about its existence and wasn't going to visit it, but my daughter and grandson decided to take a walk in this park, so my son-in-law and I went there.
We entered the park from the Southern Railway Station. It turned out that we had to walk along one of the old fortifications, destroyed in 1945 during the storming of the city by Soviet troops.
Later, I studied the map of the city and recalled our walk in the park.
It turns out that my son-in-law and I left the car in the parking lot next to the Railway workers' palace and walked along the pedestrian path along the pond system from Fort Ravelin Haberberg to Fort Ravelin Friedland. Then we went out onto the central alley of South Park and entered the park of architectural miniatures. Here we found my daughter and my grandson. The entrance to this part of the park turned out to be paid, the ticket price is about $2
It's a beautiful place, and my son-in-law and I think back 80 years and realize that hell was here at the time. There is a monument to the fallen pilots on the central alley. In 1986, the city Administration decided to clean the bottom of the lakes, and during the descent of water from the reservoirs, an IL-2 attack aircraft with the remains of the pilots in the cockpit was discovered.
There were many trees in the park with spherical growths on their branches. We even had a dispute about this - are these nests or not?
It is an evergreen parasite called mistletoe, which receives nutrients from its host tree. With its roots, it penetrates under the bark and draws out the tree sap. As a result, the branches dry up, break, and fall to the ground. The trees are periodically cleared of these balls, but some locals oppose the complete destruction of mistletoe. According to public figures, shrubs play an important role in the ecosystem of the region, and in winter, birds feed on mistletoe berries.
My first thought at the sight of St. Basil's Cathedral is, what is the proportion of this miniature relative to the original?
This is already Kazan. The Kul Sharif Mosque. Snow-white minarets rush into the sky, and turquoise domes shimmer in the light. This is facilitated by a sunny day today.
The Swallow's Nest is a pseudo-Gothic castle located on a steep 40-meter cliff of Cape Ai-Todor near Yalta. This building is the hallmark of Crimea.
If I'm not mistaken, this is a copy of the Temple on Blood from Yekaterinburg. The temple was built in 2000-2003 on the site of the Ipatiev house, where the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his family and four servants were shot on July 17, 1918.
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God on Glory Square in Khabarovsk. I've never been there, and I can't say anything about this Cathedral.
The Triumphal Gate in Vladivostok, built in 1891 in honor of the visit of Heir to the throne, Nikolai II. Demolished in 1930, it was subsequently rebuilt in 2003.
What an interesting selection of miniatures. When would I ever see a Cathedral in Khabarovsk or this Arch in Vladivostok?
This is what the Konigsberg Palace looked like until August 1944, when the city was heavily bombed by the British. Now we can only see it in the form of this thumbnail.
Wooden churches and a bell tower from Kizhi Island, located in Lake Onega. The year of construction is 1714.
Orthodox church in Nizhny Novgorod. The cathedral was built in 1818-1922 and was built as the main architectural dominant of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, the largest ensemble in Russian architecture of late classicism.
There are many more interesting sculptures in the park, and there is even a human-sized squirrel. Children have a lot to have fun here, as well as adult visitors. But my son and his family were already waiting for us, and we had to go to the Museum of the World Ocean.
Friends, have you been there? No? so I'll do a little tour for you next time.
By the way, the location of the city can be seen by clicking on the link to the map in the comments to the article by @worldmappin and @travelfeed
Thanks for reading...
Text & Photography by @apnigrich With love @apnigrich
Good luck and have fun
