Sofiyivka

Sofiyivka is a landscaped arboretum and park in the city of Uman in central Ukraine, created as a grand private garden in the late 18th century. It is one of the country’s best-known historic parks and a major example of European Romantic landscape design.

The park features decorative ponds, fountains, artificial grottoes and a network of tree-lined alleys and terraces. Many sculptures and garden pavilions punctuate the grounds, and formal vistas and winding paths provide routes of roughly several kilometres for walking.

Commissioned and financed by Count Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki beginning in 1796, the park was laid out by landscape designers of the period and developed over the 19th century. It passed through various owners and functions and in the 20th century became a public museum-reserve with restoration work on original features.

The estate sits on the outskirts of Uman in central Ukraine, on riverine terrain with mixed woodland and managed gardens. Uman is approximately 200 kilometres south of Kyiv by road.

• Founding: Established in 1796 by Count Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki as a romantic landscape park dedicated to his wife Sofia.
• Water features: Contains extensive water features including artificial ponds, cascades and grottoes that are central to the park layout.