Transcarpathia’s nature is frequently compared to that of Switzerland, and our region is known as Carpathian Switzerland. Anyone who has the opportunity to visit the region unintentionally admires its natural beauty. The true point of the region is Uzhhorod, Ukraine’s westernmost regional center and one of Europe’s greenest cities. When viewed from the top of the mountains, Uzhhorod truly deserves the title of “green city.”
Schoolchildren from the Dnipro region had the opportunity to witness this during an educational tour titled “Centuries-old Trees and Monuments of Landscape Gardening in Uzhhorod” led by Olha Velychkanych and Oksana Kremin, experts from the Institute of Ecological and Religious Studies and the Interreligious and Civil Environmental Forum of Eastern Europe.
It is not an exaggeration when one says that streets, embankments, squares, and specific trees are among the city’s natural landmarks. Uzhhorod now has about 500 varieties of beautiful trees, shrubs, and other exotic plants. There are various parks, a botanical garden, and other squares in the city.
The highlight tour of Uzhhorod began with the city’s major feature, the longest Linden alley in Europe, a park and monument of local landscape art located on the Nezalezhnist and Studentska embankments. It was built in 1928 by Czech botanists and is 2.2 kilometers long, with approximately 300 linden trees. The tour participants also learned about another masterpiece of landscape art, Tomá Masaryk Park, which was awarded protection status in order to conserve plantings of significant species of trees and shrubs, such as Japanese cherry and Douglas fir.
The students had the opportunity to view the beautiful Masaryk Ash, one of Ukraine’s oldest ash trees, a botanical monument of nature that is around 120 years old, near the beginning of Linden Alley. It was named after the Czechoslovak Republic’s first president, distinguished scientist, and politician Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, who fought for Ukrainian rights in Transcarpathia during the interwar period.
The alley of western plane trees on the Slovianska embankment, horse chestnut on the Kyivska embankment, and Japanese pagoda tree on the Pravoslavna embankment are also actual treasures of green landscaping, according to city visitors. Among the city’s centuries-old trees are the hybrid plane, the Transcarpathia memorial tree, many varieties of ginkgo, European yew, tulip tree, and bald cypress. The green plantings in Uzhhorod are the result of human labor. Every city citizen’s mission is to preserve and enrich them!
The event was held between the Interreligious and Environmental Civil Forum of Eastern Europe (IRCEF) (led by Olexander Bokotey) and the German Nature Conservation Union (NABU Bundesverband, NABU International), project coordinators Ivan Tymofeiev (NABU), Nataliya Kulya (IRCEF).
Oksana Kremin, IRCEF expert
