Corpus Garden (Poltava)

After the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava , in honor of the victory of the Russian troops in which the Glory monument was opened in 1811 on the central square of the city, landscaping work began on the center of Poltava ^[2] .

In the 1820s, the area around the monument was divided into sectors that were planted with flowers, and later poplars were planted around the area ^[2] .

In 1840, a cadet corps was opened in Poltava, the building of which was located on the Round Square. In the following years, the park was under the jurisdiction of the corps and as a result received the name Corpus Garden ^[2] .

In 1861, the park was transferred to the jurisdiction of the city ^[2] .

1917-1991

During the Civil War, the park fell into disrepair, but on April 25, 1920, the first mass citywide clean-up was held and the restoration of the city center began. In the future, the restored park received a new name - October Park - and was officially opened for visiting ^[2] . Later, sculptures were installed at the central entrance to the park.

In 1941-1943, the park was damaged during the Great Patriotic War and was seriously destroyed during the German occupation of the city ​​(at that time many trees were cut down and burned, the park's fence was destroyed, individual bronze details were removed and stolen from the Glory monument). On September 23, 1943, the fighting for the city ended, and on September 25, 1943 the first concert for residents was held in the park ^[2] .

On January 1, 1945, the first New Year tree from the beginning of the war was organized in October Park (although the tree was installed on Theater Square for all subsequent years) ^[3] .

In 1945-1947, a team of specialists from the Giprograd of the Ukrainian SSR, led by architects O. A. Malyshenko and L. S. Weingort, drew up a general plan for the restoration of Poltava, according to which the architectural ensemble of the central square of the city (including the park) was restored and reconstructed according to the plan of architects L S. Weingort and D.M. Litvintsev.

In April 1961, a month of cleanliness and beautification of the city took place in Poltava, during which three mass subbotniks were held in city parks (including in the October Park).

In 1964, the park received the status of a monument of landscape gardening art ^[4] .

Also, in the 1960s, in accordance with the decision of the chief architect of the city L. S. Weingort, a pavilion-cafe with a summer terrace ^[5] (on which a brass band played on holidays) ^[2] was built on the territory of the park.

As of the beginning of 1989, the total area of ​​the park was 6.5 hectares, about 50 species and subspecies of trees and shrubs grew on its territory - as usual for the Poltava region (including oak , linden , birch , chestnut , white acacia , mountain ash and several types of maples ), and rare (in particular, Amur velvet and catalpa ), in addition, flowers were planted on lawns and flower beds (most of which were roses , cannes , phlox , red salvia and Dutch tulips ). The fence of the park was performed by a birch bark hedge. Squirrels and up to 15 species of birds (mainly doves , pigeons and sparrows ) inhabited the park ^[2] .

On one of the park’s alleys, portraits of the Honorary Citizens of Poltava were installed ^[2] .

After 1991

After the declaration of independence of Ukraine, the park was returned the pre-revolutionary name “Corpus Garden” and it was transferred to the balance of the communal enterprise “Decorative cultures” ^[6] .

In 1998, the cafe-pavilion located on the territory of the park was reconstructed and, to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of Poltava, in 1999 the Berizka cafe was opened ^[5] .

In 2009, the Poltava City Council began work on an inventory and determination of the boundaries of land plots of Poltava parks (including Korpusny Park) ^[7] .

In 2010, the owner of a cafe in the park changed ownership, the new owner developed a project for the reconstruction of a one-story building of a cafe into a three-story building of the Rotonda restaurant ^[5] , which provoked protests among residents of the city and in connection with violations of the Law on Protection cultural heritage ”permission to conduct construction work was not granted ^[8] .

In November 2012, it was announced that the territory of the park is 6 hectares and there are 680 trees in this territory ^[4] .

On March 19, 2013, at the 30th session of the Poltava City Council, a decision was made “About planting trees and trees in 2013,” according to which, at the beginning of April 2013, 30 saplings of western thuja were planted at the expense of the city budget in Korpusny Park.

On September 5–6, 2015, the park became the venue for the competition for the preparation and eating of dumplings “Galushka fest” ^[9] .

The shape of the park is almost round, with a diameter of 350 meters. The center of the park is the Glory Monument, from which eight park alleys radially diverge, which smoothly pass into the streets of the city.

• L. M. Ostroushko. Poltava. Kharkov, "Prapor", 1980.