This subtropical park was founded in 1892 by Sergey Khudenkov the pablisher from St. Petersburg.
The park contains more than a thousand species of trees brought from all four continents. Some of the more exotic types are a candy tree, a fig tree, an iron tree, a soapberry tree, a strawberry tree, a sakma and a Magonia Billa. The upper park is laid out in formal style and is centred around the residence of the founder, an Italianate villa which is undergoing long-term restoration. From the villa a series of avenues radiate, each flanked by a different type of tree. There are classical pavilions and fountains.
The lower park is reached by an underpass and is designed in the ‘English’ style – that is to say much more freely – with lakes and a stream on which ducks and swans glide idly by. However, this ‘Englishness’ is offset by the sculptures which are most definitely Russian, large, muscular and uncompromising.