If you look at Yalta from the Darsan Hill or the observation deck of Ai-Petrinskaya yaila, you will see a city of marvelous beauty, located by the sea and literally «drowned» in the greenery of stylish parks and relic forests. The best of the best green areas in the recreational capital of Ukraine recognized local Primorsky Park. It is located along the coastline of the Black Sea: it starts from the brilliant city Embankment and extends for 2 km in a western direction, to Livadia, parallel to the Yalta Bay.
The park was named in honor of Yuri Gagarin, after his famous revolution around the planet, but it was laid, created and put into operation a little earlier. In 1948, engineer G.A. Viipus designed a green zone, the features of which were a mix of different styles on the basis of local subtropical flora. And in 1952 the citizens and guests of the resort already «received» the Seaside Park from the builders, tested its paths and enjoyed inhaling the mixture of sea and rose odors, which became a kind of business card of the park.
A little later — since 1953, the green area near the «blue sea itself» began to be filled with various cultural and architectural monuments. For example, in July of the mentioned year, a bronze monument to Anton Chekhov was erected. This honor fell to one of the best Russian writers because of his work «Lady with a Dog», in which he best described and promoted Yalta as a resort. The monumental «gratitude» to Chekhov was unveiled on the 49th anniversary of the writer’s death. The figure of Anton Chekhov seated on a bench is made of soft gray Crimean diorite. The authors of the memorial are architect and sculptor Polyakov and Motovilov respectively.
In 1954 the Seaside Park was enriched with a luxurious colonnade decorated with Corinthian order capitals. This entrance from the side of Kommunarov Street was designed by A.S. Hotelov and became one of the visiting cards of the sun-loving resort.
Another obligatory element of any photo report about staying in Primorsky Park is the eight-meter high monument to Maxim Gorky. The full-length bronze figure and the massive diorite pedestal belong to the creative team Gonchar-Vronsky-Gnezdilov. It appeared in Primorsky Park together with a picturesque stone slab in 1956. An obelisk is «hidden» behind the monument. It was put in 1951, thus marking the 30th anniversary of the Decree on «the use of the Crimea for the treatment of workers». By the way, the author of the obelisk is already known architect Khotelov in collaboration with Starikov.
The image of the Seaside beach has changed a lot after Ukraine gained independence. If earlier it was 20 hectares of green plantings on a gentle slope of the spur Ai-Petrinskaya yayla above Zheltushevsky beach, today there is an active construction, depressing the citizens.
For example, during the Soviet Union, about 2 thousand specimens of trees grew on the territory of the best park in Yalta — fan palms, Aleppo and Crimean pines, plane trees, Himalayan cedars, pyramidal cypresses and Judah trees. A huge number of roses were planted in the central part and along the main avenue. The highlights of the park were a swimming pool imitating the outlines of the Black and Azov seas, a viewpoint and a pair of colonnades made in the style of Stalin’s Empire.
For those who choose holiday in Livadia or Yalta today, the Seaside Park appears in a slightly transformed form. For example, a few steps away from Naberezhnaja on the territory of the green zone is a spa hotel of the same name, behind it, but closer to the sea — hotel complex — «Opera prima». Behind Chekhov’s monument a pit is dug — a 23-storey hotel «Hilton» will be placed here. It will include a swimming pool, a helipad and a graceful bridge running directly to the sea shore. If the situation in the country does not change with regard to nature protection objects, in a couple of years the whole Primorsky Park will turn into a single zone of total elite development.