Garden named after Shevchenko
In the historical center of Kharkov there is an amazing Shevchenko city garden park. The park was named after Taras Shevchenko - a Ukrainian poet and artist.
The garden was laid in 1804 by the founder of Kharkov University - Vasily Karazin. He was decided to be broken then on the very edge of the city in an oak grove. The garden consisted of the upper and lower parts, a landscape park was equipped upstairs, and a botanical garden was broken on the lower terrace. In 1808, an astronomical observatory was built in the park, in 1896 the 3rd zoo in the Russian Empire. In the 1930s, large-scale restructuring began in the garden, during which new shrubs, alleys, and a fountain appeared. In 1935, a monument was opened to Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko, while the park was renamed in his honor.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Shevchenko Garden was very seriously damaged. During the fighting, more than half of the trees were destroyed, and the invaders made the cemetery for senior officials a cemetery for officers from the Palace of Pioneers to the monument to Shevchenko. The Nazis here wanted to make a kind of "pantheon of German military glory". When Soviet troops recaptured the city in 1943, the cemetery was removed. After the war, they began to restore the garden under the guidance of famous architects and dendrologists. In 1955, Kharkov turned 300 years old and specially for this date, a cascading staircase with water flowing down it was built in the Shevchenko city garden. The upper part offers stunning views of the Lopan River. In 1963, a hall was erected in the park to watch films and concerts.
There are a lot of interesting monuments in the garden, among which the most famous monument to Taras Shevchenko. The statue of the poet himself is made of bronze, and the pedestal of rock is Labradorite. The height of the statue is 5.5 meters, and along with the base of 16.5 meters, which made the monument the highest in the USSR. After the war, he lost this status. In total, 400 tons of Labradorite and 30 tons of bronze were spent on the construction of the monument. Especially for construction, a narrow gauge railway was held here. In 1907, a monument was opened to Vasily Nazarovich Karazin, then he was postponed several times, and today he can be seen near the main entrance to Kharkov University. In 2001, the Metalist football club set the ball monument with a diameter of 1.5 meters. In 2004, on the 350th anniversary of Kharkov, Kiev presented the monument "archangel Mikhail", which was erected on the 50th parallel of the north latitude, since Kharkov is considered the largest city at this latitude. Also in 2010, memorial plates "50th Parallel" were opened here, which show the direction of this parallel. In the center is a circle on which the distance to different capital cities is applied.
A walk in the park is suitable for lovers of a quiet family vacation
