A bit further, one can see the source "Silver springs", founded in 1974 according
to the project of Kyiv architect O.I.Lopushinska; it is situated on the place
where in 1850 there was a booth with the pipe for water discharge (according
to Kazarinov's guidebook).
The Main Alley brought us to Flora Pavilion. This is the end of that part of
the park, which was created in the years when the park was under the jurisdiction
of the Department of military settlements. The southern border of the park was
there during Potocki's time.
In front of Flora Pavilion the square is planned, and from it few roads run
in different directions.
An asphalted road across the Venetian bridge will take us to
the Upper pond and to the entrance to Uman state agrarian academy
(former main school of horticulture) as well as along greenhouses
to a view site near the obelisk. From this place along the Upper
Alley we can find ourselves on Belleview Terrace and then go
back to Flora Pavilion. You can be given a ride in a carriage
along this road (the same as it was in old times).
The second road from Flora Pavilion goes steeply upward and to the left, it
leads to the administrative zone of the park, to glade Dubinka and further to
a western part of the park where new picturesque places capture the visitors'
sight.
Along the Upper Alley, which is calm and shady with old-aged trees, free from
excursions/ visitors, a middle road leads to greenhouses in the opposite direction
of the above-described route.
Our trip goes along the Upper Alley, near a twisting bank of the Lower Pond.
This is the best place to see the variety of talented pictures created by nature.
Till recently there has been an opinion that Flora Pavilion was built where
Shepherd's hut was situated in the years of the construction of the park. Bt
S.Groza, who studied at Uman Basilian Monastery (1816) and knew the park very
well, stated that there had been no buildings at this place up till 1820. When
Uman district was getting ready to welcome tsar Oleksandr I in 1820, Country
Pavilion was placed there.
In his "Guidebook across "Sofiyivka" T.Themery mentioned that the administration
of the Department of military settlements ordered to pull down Country Pavilion
because of his unattractiveness; according to the project of military engineer
K.Rapponet "a monument of a beautiful style" was built on this very place (Flora
Pavilion exists till our days). Most of the authors of guidebooks "Sofiyivka"
state that Flora Pavilion has been built based on the project of Makutin.
Flora is Roman goddess of spring, fourth and flowers. The Greeks called her
Chlorida. In spring in her honor so-called Floralias were celebrated, jolly
games were played. Girls were dressed in bright clothes decorated with flowers;
they sang songs and danced glorifying Flora. In antique art Flora was depicted
as a young woman with flowers in her hands or she scattered them around. Flora
Pavilion is an integral part in a composition design of the whole park ensemble.
Its bright decoration on a green background was inherited from the Country pavilion.
An ellipsoid form of the pavilion stresses the impression of a logically accomplished
very artistic picture, which perfectly blends with the landscape surrounding
it. Despite its monumentality, the pavilion looks so light from the Terrace
of Muses, as if it drifts in the sky. The impression is reinforced by its reflection
in the water of the Lower Pond.
When you are very close to the pavilion, it looks nobly and at the same time
elegantly and gracefully, thanks to its precise architectural forms, tall and
well-proportioned columns in Doric style, and tracery bas-relief on the frieze,
which pictures leaves and grape clusters. This ornamental patter was done in
1852 according to drawings of academician of architecture O.I.Shtakenshneider.
Granite steps lead to a space oval hall with good and unusual acoustics, and
between snow-white columns one can see a panorama of the Lower Pond, which amazes
with its unusual beauty and variety. Vegetation, stone, water, architecture
of small and big forms the complex of hydro technical buildings, all of these
are the main elements the park was made of.
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