A.S. Pushkin City Landscape Park of Culture and Recreation — located in Sovetsky District. Bounded by Belinsky Street, Studenaya, Timiryazeva Street, the television center, and the buildings on Timiryazeva Street. Area: 9.8 hectares. Length (along Belinsky Street): 490 m; width from 125 m (at the television center) to 250 m (between Belinsky and Timiryazeva streets).
Part of the park is a protected cultural heritage site (historical monument) of regional significance; its boundary runs along a diagonal path leading from the television center and parallel to Belinsky Street at the level of the building in the center of the park.
The park received its current official name and the status of a city park in September 1990.
History
In May 1880, at the unveiling of a monument to A.S. Pushkin in Moscow, it was proposed that the poet's birthday be marked by planting green spaces. In 1881, the City Council allocated a vacant plot "behind the Bugrov and Blinov Widows' Home" (NSTU dormitory no. 2 at Lyadov Square) for the creation of a garden named after Pushkin, designated on maps of the time as "Pushkin Garden." Its territory then extended as far as Perepletchikova Street (Pushkina Street), while to the south it was bounded by the city limits, beyond which lay common pastureland. The allocated territory was cut through by branches of a deep ravine. The garden covered an area of 12.3 hectares, of which 2.8 hectares were ravines (as of 1913).
Until 1899, when the centenary of A.S. Pushkin's birth was celebrated, no landscaping or planting had been carried out. In 1900, the city agronomist reported that "the site of the future garden near the Widows' Home, known as the Pushkin Garden, was fenced and plowed during the reporting year to prepare the soil for planting shrubs and trees, as until now this area had served as a road." Five-year-old birch trees and acacia shrubs were planted in 1907 with the participation of young students. On the territory free of ravines, paths were laid and a clearing was arranged in the northeastern part of the garden. At the exit of 18th Line (Studenaya Street) toward the ravine stood a watchman's hut and a "retirad" (outdoor privy).
According to reports by agronomist Vyalov, the trees and shrubs constantly suffered from goats owing to the dilapidated state of the fence and the "uncivilized behavior of the public." The grass in the garden was mowed under lease arrangements by residents of the neighboring streets. In the Soviet era, physical education classes began to be held in the garden.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the garden grounds were used to train militia volunteers and to quarter horses requisitioned for the army's needs, as a result of which parts of the garden were trampled and some trees perished. After the war, new trees were planted in place of those lost, including larches and rowans. The ravines were filled in, and shrubs were planted on the vacant ground. A dendrarium with valuable species of shrubs and trees was established on the territory annexed from the south. The park's area came to approximately 14 hectares.
During the Soviet era, several replanning projects for the park were drawn up but never realized. The 1948 project, for instance, envisaged transforming the garden into a typical Stalinist park of culture and recreation: complete with a statue of the Leader, other garden sculptures, gazebos, reading-room pavilions, snack-bar pavilions, areas for mass games, and attractions such as swings, merry-go-rounds, and giant strides. In 1964, plans were made for a small open-air stage, summer demountable tents, light children's rides, visual agitation displays, areas for ball games, and the like.
In 1958, the western part of the park was given over to the construction of the Nizhny Novgorod television center. In 1963, a building was erected deep within the park to house the Hunters' and Anglers' Society and the Okhotnik (Hunter) cinema.
In the 1980s, part of the park's "historic" territory was taken up by new student dormitories on Timiryazeva Street. In the 1990s, tennis courts appeared alongside the dormitories. The city landscape park no longer included those areas, but the fitness center building that replaced the courts in 2004 reduced the park's area still further, to 9.8 hectares.
Present Day
The northern part of the park retains a historically formed birch grove covering 5 hectares, with trees over 100 years old. Of the park's original layout, the diagonal avenue running from the intersection of Belinsky and Studenaya streets has been preserved.
After the park was granted city-park status, landscaping improvements were carried out in the 1990s: a fountain, benches, and small architectural features were added, and a memorial marker was erected in honor of the militia volunteers. Several cafés also appeared in the park. In September 2006, a decision was made to construct a new opera theater building within the park. In 2009, the lease agreement with the tenant was terminated and the fairground rides were dismantled.
The theater building is planned for the site of the former Hunter and Angler House (now the Onegin restaurant). According to the design developed by GIPRONI of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the opera theater building extends beyond the footprint of the existing structure and occupies part of the park's historic area; the avenue leading to the theater's main entrance passes through the century-old birch grove.