Alcove

Ukraine, Bila Tserkva, Alexandria Park
In 1781, Count Xavier Branitsky married Alexandra Engelhardt from St. Petersburg. The girl was the niece of Prince Potemkin. After the wedding, the Branitskys spent the summer in Ukraine at their estate in Bila Tserkva.
Alexandra Branitskaya really liked the parks in St. Petersburg, which she visited with Catherine II. So she decided to create her own park, which would be in no way inferior to the St. Petersburg parks.
On one of her detours around the estate, Alexandra noticed the Austeria inn and made her summer residence out of it. The house was surrounded by yards and centuries-old oaks, which, in fact, was what she took a closer look at. Today, only the foundation and basements remain from Austeria.
Beginning in the 20th century, Austeria was rebuilt externally, pavilions for relatives and guests were built, and the Dance Pavilion was built. Roses bloomed around the building in flower beds, lawns were decorated with trimmed bushes. Every year the park has grown and transformed.
There were three memorial cycles in the construction of the park: in honor of Potemkin, who helped with finances in its construction, Emperor Alexander I and M.S. Vorontsov.

How Alexandria Park looked like can be seen in the drawings of Wilbald Richter dated 1828. All twenty-five drawings are painted in watercolor and sepia. At the moment they are in the "Belotserkovsky Album", which is kept in the Montresor castle in France by the heirs of the Branitsky family.