Livadia

Livadiia. In the end of the 10th c. a Greek settlement of Ai-Yan stood in the territory of the present-day Livadiia. The main sight in the small resort settlement is a monument of landscape architecture - the Great Livadiia Palace. This is a former summer residence of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. The palace was built after the design by the talented Yalta architect N. P. Krasnov in 1911 on the site of the old palace. The Livadiia Palace complex includes, along with the Great Palace, the Retinue House, the palace for the Minister of the Court, the palace church, and the Florentine courtyard. Of special interest is the White Hall of the Palace in which sittings of the Crimean Conference of heads of governments of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain were held in February 1943. The palace stands in a magnificent old park.

Livadiya Park covers an area of 40.1 hectares. Founded in the first half of the 19th c. The architectural ensemble of the park includes the White Palace (1911), Fredericks' Palace (1916) and the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (1864).
The park is based on a natural forest, exotics are planted mainly in its central part. The territory consists of steep mountain slopes that here and there turn into precipices with gullies, rock elevations and terraces. About 180 species and forms of trees, shrubs, and Iianas grow in the park. Its major attraction are giant sequoias and pines growing on the light-green glades. Among the oldest trees in the park mention should be made of individual specimens of holm and pyramidal oaks. Group compositions include cypresses, oaks, Himalayan, Lebanon and Atlas cedars, a grove of Sudanese pines and an olive grove. Platans are the common trees in the park and there are several varieties of pines, firs, and magnolias.
The park is decorated with fountains, the 80-metre metal fence twined with Iianas (roses, wisterias, and vines). and pavilions Rose, Turkish and Laurel.