Nikitsky Botanical Garden in Crimea

Because Crimea has been on the front pages of most newspapers and news sites for several years now, I wanted to put aside this silly politics, hatred and animosity. I just wanted to remember what a wonderful place this is! So that this marvelous peninsula could be associated only with positive things again!

I have been to Crimea twice, as a young green kid, with my parents. But this did not make my impressions worse. I remember a lot of things and I am pleased to recall those warm and sunny days. I got all these photos and prepared a series of reports about Crimea! And I will not tolerate any hatred and anger in the comments, which I warn you about at once!

In this article I will talk about Nikitsky Botanical Garden (and no idea why everyone calls it Nikitinsky). All photos are old and were taken on my very first soapbox back in 2008, so for the quality please do not swear =)

Emperor Alexander I signed a decree to establish a botanical garden in the Crimea in June 1811. This was requested by the military governor of Kherson Richelieu with the support of Count Mikhail Vorontsov (extremely close to the Emperor) and the famous German botanist Biberstein.

A little more than three years later, the orchard contained 95 varieties of apple trees, 58 varieties of pears, 6 berry and 15 ornamental species of plants.

Soon the garden turned into an acclimatization point, to which all Russia can be grateful for spreading a huge number of new trees and plants throughout its territory.

For such merits, the director of the garden, a scientist-naturalist Christian Staven was awarded a prize of 2000 chervonts, at the expense of which he went on a two-year trip around the world, studying and selecting trees suitable for planting in the Nikitsky Garden.

His successor, the former gardener-keeper Gartis, served as director for 20 years, until the end of his life. During this period, he was able to more than double the arboretum’s collection.

He opened a school of practical horticulture on the lands of the garden and laid a vineyard, created the Magarach institution of viticulture and winemaking.

Nikolai Tsebel, who managed the garden from 1866 to 1880, paid special attention to viticulture. The Nikita School of Horticulture and Winemaking was opened.

From 1880 until the 20th century, the funding of the garden was significantly reduced, which could not but affect its work. During this time, only winemaking was developed.

In 1912, the centenary of the foundation of the botanical garden was solemnly celebrated. It was then that an antique-style column was erected at the entrance to the Lower Park.

In 1914, a herbarium was established here, which today has over 120,000 leaves.

During the Soviet era, the garden was restored again. It received a fair amount of attention, but during the German occupation during World War II, a huge number of plants were destroyed and the valuable herbarium was taken away. Director Koverga was so dedicated that he went on a search and brought the herbarium back a few years later, finding it near Berlin in private hands.

By the time the territory of Crimea was transferred to Ukraine, its area amounted to 996 hectares. It was recognized as a national treasure of Ukraine.

Today this botanical garden is one of the most beautiful in Europe. We can safely put it on a par with the Batumi Botanical Garden. As far as square footage goes – it’s just huge.

There is a lot of vegetation, man-made ponds and various buildings on the territory of the garden. For example, there is this gazebo, which, according to the guide, was the filming location for one of the moments in the movie “The Adventures of Pinocchio”.

Knowing how tour guides love legends, I rewatched the movie but never found this gazebo. If you have met it in this psychedelic cartoon – discount the moment.

Lots of beautiful flowers that you can’t take your eyes off of. You just want to enjoy their appearance and inhale their sweet fragrance.

The butterfly garden is also located here. It is quite tiny and poorly decorated compared to, say, the butterfly garden in Vienna, but the variety of butterflies here is ten times higher and more interesting. And here they are absolutely fearless, many of them landing right on top of you.

Actually, it’s a very beautiful place. It’s well worth a visit. And the ideal time is probably October, when the Chrysanthemum Ball opens, the evergreen trees remain green, and the leaves on the regular ones are colored in hundreds of shades of red, yellow and green.

How to get there

You can get to Nikitsky Botanical Garden by public transportation from Yalta by route #34 or trolleybus #2 from the stop “Vegetable Market”, as well as by route #29, which goes through the city and past the bus station.

From Simferopol to Yalta runs trolleybus №52. You can also get there by any shuttle bus “Simferopol-Yalta”, but it is better to ask the driver in advance whether he will stop at the stop “Nikitsky Botanical Garden” (at one time buses stopped only at bus stations).

In addition, from Sevastopol you can get by shuttle bus “Sevastopol-Yalta”, and in Yalta take the shuttle bus №29.

By car: coordinates 44.5094,34.2328.

Office hours:

In winter (November through April) – 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

In summer (May – October) – from 9:00 to 20:00

Ticket prices

Entrance ticket for children (from 7 to 14) – 100 rubles.

For adults – 200 rubles.

Entrance to the cactus greenhouse and Primorsky Park will cost 50 rubles for children and 100 rubles for adults.

You can also go to the museum – 25 and 50 rubles respectively

Since the territory of this botanical garden is huge, I recommend using mobile navigation or downloading a map plan for easy orientation.