Today the town of Saki looks like a luxury resort — the seashore, a lake with therapeutic muds, architectural monuments, picturesque ruins of a Greek-Scythian settlement and a luxurious park. And just 130 years ago, in the appeared «Memories of the Crimea» Princess Gorchakova, this village was described as one of the dullest in the world — immovable, muddy lake and sun-scorched steppe. To correct the situation and worthy to present their city among other European balneological resorts, the townspeople had to urgently correct the situation — the community of Saks decided to create Resort Park.
In the spring of 1890 was chosen place under the arboretum, and the project was headed by the Taurian provincial leader Alexander Staven — son of the first director and creator of Nikitskij botanical garden Christian Staven. The role of «foreman» was taken by Mr. P.S. Melnichenko. The zemstvo allocated 5 thousand rubles to the contractor and the work began.
In the autumn of the same year workers manually removed the sod from the site of 7 hectares. The infertile soil was then replaced with typical chernozem. This was followed by breaking up alleys, planting trees, forming grassy glades and limiting the contour of the park. After that, irrigation canals were dug and decorated with bridges. By the way, the trees were chosen to be drought-resistant — Spanish drocas, plane trees, Judah trees, maples, boxwoods and Japanese sophoras. More than 80 species of exotic plants were brought to Saki from subtropical Europe, Asia and North America.
The following year, a garden was planted on the side of the mud treatment center and two water bodies were dug — Swan Lake and a pond, the features of which resemble the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. An artificial mountain grew on one of the side alleys. A Greek pavilion was erected on its top, and the hill itself was planted with Caucasian dzelkvaks specially brought from Georgia.
It is curious, but the Nature of steppe Crimea actively resisted the new flora in its possessions. In December 1892 a part of the park was covered by a dust storm, and in 1893 an abnormally heavy snowfall changed the landscape design of the eastern part of the park.
But this cultural biocenosis survived and the 1913 guidebook described Saki as a beautiful resort with a mud bath located in the middle of a marvelous park. A children’s playground with a full-time educator — a pre-revolutionary version of an animator, a stage for a brass band and allotted areas for skittles and town games were built there.
Today the park pleases its guests not only with oxygen and phytoncides emitted by 1200 century-old trees. There are about 30 original sculptures and unique memorials. The most famous of these is a giant bronze diplodocus fighting off three velociraptors. The dinosaur appeared in the park in 1960 and was so beloved by the citizens that it appeared on the coat of arms and the flag of Saki.
Besides the diplodocus, there is a monument to Lenin — the most typical of those that once «decorated» every square of any city of the former USSR. To less pompous, but more soulful visitors of the park include the busts of Gogol and Lesya Ukrainka, who tried to treat their illnesses with local mud. The category of unusual memorials includes a slab placed in the place where the first artesian well was drilled on the territory of Crimea, as well as a monument to Zhang-Wei Ling, a Chinese professor of medicine, who worked in the sanatorium «Saki» for several years.
Well, and the main objects in the Resort Park, for the sake of which thousands of people go to vacation in Saki, are the following institutions — Burdenka sanatorium, «Sakropol» and Pirogov military hospital. Treatment in them is often the only hope for children with cerebral palsy, for spinals, for people with chronic problems of the nervous, respiratory, genitourinary system, as well as those who suffer from dermatoses or received severe burns. Therefore, the opportunity to visit Crimea, as well as to take advantage of its balneological resources gives many people a real chance to improve their physical condition. Accommodation on the territory of the arboretum, in the most beautiful place of Sak, is guaranteed to have a positive effect on the souls of guests.