Foros is an amazing place, beautiful and impressive to all who come here to get to know the village and its attractions. One of its most famous sights is the Kuznetsovsky Palace, everyone who stays in Foros or comes here for a short visit should see it.
Kuznetsovsky Palace is a palace and park complex, created in a very picturesque place near the famous Foros Church, an architectural monument of national importance since 1979. The palace and the surrounding park leave a vivid impression on all tourists.
This cozy corner of land in ancient Foros was once favored by Prince Golitsyn himself, who began to improve the Foros park in the early XIX century — even then it was marked on maps. In the 1830s this land was acquired by merchant A.G. Kuznetsov, known as the «porcelain and tea king». Together with his wife, suffering from tuberculosis, they decided to settle in Foros and build here an estate that corresponded to their status and wealth — beautiful, large, lush, with a spacious park and beautiful views.
The palace building is constructed from 1834 to 1889. Kuznetsov hires Billiang, an architect famous at that time, to design the mansion. The interior decoration is also engaged in excellent masters of their craft, specialists of applied arts and artists, and the park is arranged according to the project and under the guidance of landscape painter and professor of the Academy of Arts Yu Yu Klever. As a result, Foros has acquired a real architectural treasure.
The two-storey building in the style of Russian classicism harmoniously fits into the surrounding landscape: stone facades, high windows and balconies outside form a solid, but not flashy exterior decoration, the simplicity and austerity of its forms is more than compensated by the interiors. Marble fireplaces, antique parquet of natural wood, oak doors and even 15 wall panels, which appeared here when the first owner of the palace. The beauty of the architecture of the building and its interiors is complemented by the splendor of the park surrounding the mansion, where you can see more than 200 species of plants, including exotic for these places sequoias, cedars, palm trees, magnolias, cypresses, pine trees, fir trees. The highlight of the park is the «Paradise Corner», located in its very center: 6 artificial lakes were created here, cascading on different levels. Having visited the Kuznetsovsky Palace, having admired the views opening from here (in the west — the park, in the east — the seascape, from the north — mountain panoramas) it is impossible not to fall in love with this place, everyone has a desire to live here, and it is simply wonderful that this desire is feasible.
Today on the territory of the palace and park complex operates sanatorium «Foros», in which anyone can relax. The doors of the ancient mansion are open to all — and this is extremely rare. In the walls, where in 1916, for a month and a half worked on the book «Pages of my life» great F.I. Chaliapin and A.M. Gorky can live every guest of the Crimea! No wonder that the sanatorium is very popular among tourists. In the building is located billiards, reading room, library, conference room — in Soviet times to rest here you had to belong to the elite (during the Soviet era the building was a sanatorium of the Office of Affairs of the Central Committee of the CPSU), but times change and now such magnificent places can become temporary housing for ordinary tourists.
Kuznetsovsky Palace and Foros Church are the main man-made sights of Foros, and the stunning natural beauty of this corner of Crimea, merging with them into one harmonious whole, make this place truly unique. Staying here will leave the most wonderful memories and will be remembered forever.