Gurzuf Sanatorium is a direct evidence that the Golden Age was not only in literature, but also in garden and park architecture. However, sanatorium is just the actual name of the place. In fact, it is a stunning park in which the health resort is now located, and not the other way around. Gurzufsky Park is a kind of «first-born» for the Southern coast of Crimea. It was created in the XIX century, after the Crimean peninsula became part of the Russian Empire. It was then in 1811 that the Pushkin House was erected, which today is the heart of the sanatorium «Gurzufsky».
The territory of the park-sanatorium is mottled with many asphalted paths, the total length of which reaches ten kilometers. Oh, how many feet tread these paths! How many secrets they keep! The gate that leads to the Embankment is now the starting point for all those who have come to see this man-made beauty. On the right hand from the gate flows the artificial river Avunda, and on the left behind flower beds lurks a dirt alley that leads to the seventh sanatorium building.
The first building of sanatorium «Gurzufsky» is especially beautiful in spring. The fact that its walls are decorated with wisteria. In late April, unremarkable walls of the sanatorium building turns into a mind-blowing beauty of lilac cascade, from which it is impossible to take your eyes off. Light purple bunches of wisteria make the gray building a real fairy-tale palace, where at least some flower princess should live.
Long before the Gurzuf Sanatorium was listed in numerous guidebooks that describe the sights of Crimea, Mayakovsky wandered through its alleys. Once, in 1928, he visited this place. Nowadays, in that building, which was once crushed by the great poet’s sharp rhymes, vacationers have lunch. Now there is a dining room of Gurzufsky sanatorium. Yes, everything flows, everything changes …
The talent of architects did not leave the second sanatorium building without attention, and on its background is another work of architectural art — the fountain «Goddess Night», created on the model of Professor Berger. This fountain was purchased in 1889 at the Viennese exhibition especially for the Gurzufsky Park. The Goddess of the Night, imprinted in metal, charms and stupefies. It seems as if the goddess Nyukta is not a goddess at all, but a living beautiful maiden who floats in the night sky. However, there is no point in describing this architectural marvel. The Goddess of the Night fountain is one of those things that you should see once rather than hear about a hundred times.
A staircase with miniature lions will lead you to a banana grove, opposite of which lurks another work of art — the «Bather» fountain. It is hidden from the eyes of thirsty tourists in a niche of greenery. By the way, «Bather» and «Goddess of the Night» were not the only fountains in Gurzufsky Park. Once in the lush greenery of this mesmerizing corner of the Crimea murmured three more works of art — fountains «Muse», «Nymph» and «First Kiss», but human hands destroyed them, not allowing the modern generation to enjoy this beauty.
Any guidebook describing the sights of Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula in particular will almost by the hand lead you to the bust of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. The poet once immortalized the olive grove of the Gurzuf sanatorium in his poems. Do you remember the famous lines from the poem «Who has seen the land where the luxury of nature…»? You will not believe it, but these rhymes were composed in the intoxicating atmosphere of Gurzufsky park. True, that olive grove, which impressed Pushkin so much, is no longer there, but the memory of the poet who described it has turned into eternity.