“Crimean Spring” at Zaryadye

The park and the Nikitsky Botanical Garden start working together in the frames of the ParkLab project.

On March 18, at 14:00, the director of Zaryadye park Ivan Demidov, specialists from the gardening department and representatives of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden will sign a memorandum of cooperation. It involves joint work on projects, exchange of expert experience and bilateral consultations of specialists. The guests of one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1812 and still carrying out research activity, will donate plants from its unique botanical collection. Some of them in special forms that allow plants to adapt to the Moscow climate, from this day on they will be placed under Glass Crust and in the park pavilions.

“Spring is the time of artists and gardeners. These two categories are the park's top performers of the new season. If last year we focused on exhibition and art projects, now it's time to add one more layer: we transform open spaces, renew the botanical collection of Florarium, even the underground parking is losing its purely utilitarian meaning and is gradually becoming part of a single green ecosystem.” — said the director of Zaryadye park Ivan Demidov.

“The Nikitsky Botanical Garden supported the initiative of Zaryadye Park to create an exhibition dedicated to the flora of the Crimean Peninsula. Thus, we donated the plants that we had grown in our nurseries to the park. Zaryadye is the youngest, most modern, high-tech park in the Russian Federation. The Nikitsky Botanical Garden is one of the oldest research institutions in Russia with a rich history and colossal experience. We believe that we will have productive cooperation in the field of environmental education, biodiversity conservation and popularization of science”, says Yuri Plugatar, the director of the Nikitsky Botanical Gardens —the National Scientific Center.

At 14:30, under Glass Crust for the first time a new site-specific art object “Spinned Up-Began!” by artist Marina Zvyagintseva will be shown. “The anti-stress installation”, according to the artist's definition, is designed to reduce the negative arising from the overlap of park areas during work. The mobile art object will remain in the park and will appear wherever landscaping, maintenance or renovation work is carried out.

“I wanted to show how people of different professions create something unique in a city. The combination of people work creates such a relaxing atmosphere right in the historic center of Moscow. On the one hand, the work symbolizes the work of people, on the other, the relaxation that nature brings to urbanism”, shared the artist.

Marina Zvyagintseva will also present the Green Pack mobile garden project, which will be placed at Zaryadye in the summer. The project is represented as modular plant structures in the form of disposable tableware and introduces the idea of ​​a “green gastro bistro”, where the value of nature is equated with the importance of daily nutrition.

On March 18 and 19, specialists from the Nikitsky Botanical Gardens will give lectures in the field of landscape architecture, dendrology, parks, ornamental gardening and floriculture — in the lecture hall of Nature Center. Experts will talk about the latest methods of plant diagnostics in wildlife, the development of training programs and activities in the field of botany, ecology, nature conservation and biodiversity conservation. Entrance is free, registration required.

From March 18 to March 21, on the screens of Media Center and Nature Center ​​you can see fragments of the documentary film “Crimea Heavenly” (2020) by director, screenwriter and artist Sergei Debizhev.

“Our film reopens Crimea. From space heights to the depths of the sea. Crimea as the “heart of the world”, the cradle of ancient civilizations, a source of inspiration, energy and strength”, the director says about his work.

The musical map of the park will be complemented by compositions dedicated to Crimea, spring, nature and recreation — they will sound on the territory and in the pavilions.

The exhibition “Crimea. History” opens on March 17. It will present the history of the peninsula development from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century. The exhibition will feature unique photographs of the mid-19th century, which depict cities, coastal settlements, sea and mountain landscapes, as well as the people of Crimea. And the history of the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire and its development will be introduced by maps, plans, engravings, decrees of Russian emperors and other documents. The exhibition will run until March 31, admission is free

Registration for lectures (in Russian):

Creation and development of flower and ornamental crops collections in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden

Collections of plants of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden: exhibiting and landscape design

Contribution of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden to natural science education

Experience of using modern technologies in the diagnosis of memorial and old-growth trees of the Crimea