Let us proceed with our excursion and we would like to hold your attention near a peculiar round pavilion, Pheasant Cage. The pavilion was built of round oak-tree columns, incrusted with oak-tree-, ash-tree- and maple-tree bark. In 1812 it was constructed in the park. Probably, L.Metzel used a popular picture of I.G.Gromann, released as a manual for landscape gardening artists in Leipzig in 1799; it was called Enclosure (Volier). During the flood of 1980 the Pheasant Cage was destroyed, its roof was taken away by the flow of water up to the stones of the Crete Labyrinth. The cage was restored according to the drawings of the institute "Ukrprojectrestoration". A little pool with a fountain in the middle of it is constructed in the cage. The water comes here from the Upper Pond through the pipe; the height of the water jet reaches 3-3.5 meters. T.Themery names the pavilion a hen-house, and S.Groza calls it a round wire cage, where gentle cooing of turtle-dove has something in common with the noise of falling water of the fountain.

In modern literary sources we cannot find the information whether pheasants were kept there. But they were in the cage in 1859.

Let us go upstairs to the dam of the Upper Pond. At first we will walk along the asphalted road to the former pier of the ferryboat. The diorama of the Upper Pond opens in all its beauty from this place; S.Trembecki named it the Enchanting Sea. Its coasts are framed with different vegetation, which seem to be painted in bright colors by a talented hand of an artist.

The island with a pink pavilion in the middle of it attracts our attention. In literature we come across various names of this unique creation of human hands and mind during the time of the existence of the park. In modern guidebooks the island is often called the Island of Love. For the first time we see this name in V.Ivaschenko's publications (1895). V.Ivaschenko also mentions its previous name - the Island of Anti-Circe. S.Trembecki describes this place using the same name. The poet noted that according to a Greek myth, Circe, the owner of the island, was a sorceress. She hated men and turned them into different monsters and animals. When Odysseus and his men found themselves on the island, Circe turned all the men into pigs except for Odysseus, because she fell in love with him. He had to spend a year on her island. But in "Sofiyivka" everything is on the contrary: even the animals, which visited the island, turned into noble and respected people. Giving this allegoric comparison, S.Trembecki meant that landscape gardening as well as other kinds of art has a favorable influence on people.

The island, where sorceress Circe lived, as ancient Greeks thought, was called Eia. They did not doubt that a small rocky island was situated near the coats of Latsia (Italy). Nowadays, due to the river drifts, this island joined the dry land; it is called the hill of Circe till these days.

The island of Anti-Circe was created in a widened part of the Upper Pond or the Enchanting Sea during the first period of the foundation of the park. The serfs built the island in an oval form without any mechanisms not to hide the distant prospects of the pond, which could be admired while walking from the pier to the dam. From this place one can once again watch the Waterfall and the Elysian Fields.

The banks of the Island of Anti-Circe were faced with granite. A ferryboat or a boat was used to take people from the bank to the island. In 1853 a wooden bridge on stone piers was built between the northern bank and the island for pedestrians. Thanks to proper proportions of the construction and the color of the bridge, it seems to be light, openwork, as if it hangs in the air. The flood of 1980 damaged the bridge; it fell down on the ice of the pond. Later, after the destroyed details had been repaired, it was fixed on its original place.

S.Groza (1843) described the period when there was a granite basis in the middle of the island. It was planned to construct a pyramid and to keep the dust of a former owner of the park S.S.Potocki in it. T.Themery wrote that Sofia Potocka had an intention to build a burial vault to keep S. Trembecki's dust. In this way she wanted to show her respect to the first singer of "Sofiivka"; by the way, in his poem he described Sofia as the most beautiful decoration of the park. These plans have never been realized.

According to a brief report about the work done in Tsarina Garden in 1837-1847 (April 1):

in 1843 "a lower floor of the pergola on the island of the Upper Pond was erected"; and in 1844 "the construction of the a stone pavilion, except for the floor, was completed"; in 1845 "an upper floor of the pergola on the island of the Upper pond was erected and covered with iron". We can come to a conclusion that the construction of the stone pavilion on the island of Anti-Circe was finished in 1845.

T.Themery wrote that the pavilion was built in Gothic style. After the visit of tsar Nicholas I to the park (1847), the pavilion was taken away; a new one in the style of the epoch of Renascence was built in 1850. It still exists and we call it Pink Pavilion. A.I.Shtakenshneider, an academician of architecture, developed a project of Pink Pavilion, and architect I.Makutin supervised the construction of the pavilion.

Nowadays the pavilion is a swift building, which blends logically with the whole ensemble of the island, with its trees, bushes, and the island itself is the central architectural point on the island. An octagon is in the main part of the plan of the pavilion.

In 1974 the general restoration of Pink Pavilion was done, a granite basis being substituted.

Let us come back to the Amsterdam Lock, which is always crowded with the visitors of the park. Having got acquainted with the main objects of the park, stand in line to make a trip along the underground river Acheron. T.Themery first mentioned the Amsterdam Lock, which meant that the name appeared during the time when the park was founded and it was connected with the Dutch town Amsterdam, where one could see similar buildings very often. Lockage was manufactured during the first period of the foundation of the park and was intended to be the passage for the ships to go from the Upper Pond to the underground river Acheron and back, and also to drain water from the pond.

The lock consists of two interacting parts. The first one is constantly working; it locks the water from the Upper Pond. At the bottom there is a control trap with help of which one can regulate, to a certain degree, the depth of water in the underground river and in the pond. This part of the lockage was destroyed during the flood of 1980, later it was made again.

The second part is of one-disposable action of the lock, the circulation of which moves with help of a special winch, and a wooden shield on massive iron chains can either go up or down letting the water flow to and from the underground river. For the boat to get from the Upper Pond to the underground river Acheron, it is necessary to block water from the lock channel using the winch and the shield. Then a control trap opens on a constantly working part with helps of the winch; the channel of the lockage is filled with water. When the water in the channel reaches the level of the water in the Upper Pond, the lock opens, similarly to the gate, with the oblong lever, and the boat sails into the channel of the lockage. Then the entrance lock shuts, and through a lower window of an exit lock the water is slowly released with help of a special trap. When the level of water in the channel goes down to the depth, which allows a boat to pass along the underground river Acheron, a shield of an exit lock is lifted with help of a large wheel of the winch, and the boat can easily move along the underground channel to the pier at the Acheron Lake.

One can make a trip to the Upper Pond, having done all above-mentioned in a reverse direction.

The park becomes more and more popular and the number of tourists grows with every coming year, which explains the fact that to organize boat trips in a reverse direction is impossible. Those who want to travel along the underground river Acheron can make a boat trip: it starts at the Amsterdam Lock and is over at the Acheron Lake. Or you may take a boat at the Acheron Lake and travel along the underground river Acheron to the Amsterdam Lock.

The underground river Acheron was constructed during the first period of the creation of the park. The river is 224 meters long, 3 meters wide, 3 meters high; its depth is equal to 1 meter. Along the channel there are four wells, which facilitate illumination and airing. It is worth mentioning how impressive engineering talents of the builders are. The distance between the Amsterdam Lock and the first hatch is 66 meters; between the first and the second hatches - 40 meters, between the third and the fourth hatches - 19 meters, between the fourth hatch and the exit to the Acheron Lake - 44 meters. We can imagine what a great work was done manually as for its extent and costs. At first they dug out about 3000 meters of ground, the walls of the channel and its basis were faced with granite, the vault was done in an arch-style in the form of brick castles, and only partly it was first made of oak-tree bars, which was later changed for iron. Almost all the visitors, particularly in summer time, are eager to make a boat trip along the underground river Acheron after their excursion across the park. Here in a complete silence, in pleasant freshness and coolness, they recover their forces rather fast, get some additional emotional impulse from this unusual place, remembering with appreciation the people who have been carefully maintaining the park for more than 200 years already.

Having a rest in the boat, which swings slightly and moves slowly, and watching the wells over your head, you will see a light opening in 8-10 minutes, you will hear the noise of water, rustle of leaves and birds' singing. Gradually it increases and finally you will the sky and find yourself in a round pool surrounded with ash-trees, maple-trees and vine. The water of the Acheron Lake (L.O.Kazarinov named it "Dead lake"), along the open channel and cascade of granite steps, flows under the white iron bridge, which is seen, and falls down into the River Styx as if it is the waterfall; according to ancient Greeks its water joins the water of the Ocean.

L.O.Kazarinov gives the name "Dead Lake" to the pool and makes reference to L.Metzel; at the same time he gives different ungrounded versions of its name, which are of no importance. Taking into account the fact that S.Trembecki, T.Themery and S.Groza, who described the park before, called this place just a pool, we may think that the name "Dead lake" has no symbolism (it appeared much later), and it can be due to the quietness and calmness of the water, which never moves. The information that ancient Greeks named a mythic sea in the underground kingdom, where dead souls resided, "Dead Lake" (Z.G.Goloverda, Z.Ya.Ivanova, B.S.Sydoruk, 1976 confirmed the facts), was not proved in our researches. There is no doubt that "Sofiivka" will be studied and investigated by numerous researchers in future, but we will keep using the name the Acheron Lake for the pool, from which calm waters of Acheron together with rapid waters of the River Kotsita flow through the Main Waterfalls into the Styx River. The area of the Acheron Lake is 800 square meters; its depth is 1.5 meters. The hatch was made on the right bank of the lake; the water flows to the "Seven-Jet Fountain" through the hatch along the underground channel. In 1999 the lake was repaired considerably.

The boat moors to a granite pier. After the trip along the underground river you can go to a small iron bridge across the channel. You can see the Assembly Square from the bridge, the most crowded place in the park Poseidon' Temple, built in a form of a granite vase filled with bright flowers, will attract your attention with new colors. Then you will admire the mirror of the Lower Pond or the Ionian Sea, the Lower Alley, and a bit higher the terrace Belleview; another alley, situated in the middle of an artificial glade, leads to the Chinese pergola. In 1832-1842, gardener K.Ferre made the terrace, the glade and the alley to the Chinese pergola. The alley was built of brick, but in 1986 it was completely restored as well as the terrace Belleview. Stronger material was used instead of brick, which blended nicely with the surrounding landscape.