Livadia - is an urban village situated on the southern coast of Crimea. Livadia (from the Greek Luiza - means meadow, pasture) is located on the northeast slope of Mount Mogabi. The population of the village of 2,5 thousand people. There's the resort of the same name of cardiological profile, one of the largest on the South coast.

Originally the land of Livadia belonged to the Balaklava Greek battalion commander, Colonel Feodosiy Ravelioti. In 1834, the territory of Livadia was bought by Count Potocki, for whom a house and a park were built here.

In 1860 Livadia was bought by the specific department for the royal family. By that time the Romanovs had owned the estate Oreanda with the palace and park. Both estates were connected by imperial track, extended later to Gaspra. So the imperial family, the grand dukes and their friends, relatives of the other most notorious Russian surnames, lived  open, simple, healthy and cheerful life.

Steep mountain "Krestivaya (Cross)" (Stavry-kai) is dominated by the whole area, famous among climbers of the world.
Romantic castle "The Swallow's Nest" on Avrorin rock Cape Ai-Todor dominates over the sea. It was built in 1912 by architect A. Sherwood for Baron V. Shneygelya, Baku oilman.

Celebrities. All those who were close to the imperial family during the last five kings were here. In 1866, Emperor Alexander II, a man of strict propriety, met here 16 year old Princess Dolgoroukaya. He was 48. And only after 14 years of secret meetings in the Crimea, after the death of the Empress, he was able to marry Ekaterina Mikhailovna and officially recognize her three children.

Livadia architectural and park complex - is one of the outstanding monuments of architecture and park art. The palace was erected on the draft of remarkable Yalta architect, academician N.P. Krasnov (1865-1939) in the style of the Italian Renaissance.

Livadia Palace complex, in addition to the Grand Palace, consists of suite building, the Palace Minister of the Court Baron Fredericks, built simultaneously with the palace, the palace church in the name of the Exaltation of the Cross, built in 1872, and an Italian courtyard.

By the way, the internal gates of the Italian courtyard, as evidenced by N.P. Krasnov, " are the Italian work, in 1750 taken from Verona", and they were not made by the masters of the Urals, as it was told in the guide-books of the recent years. In 1925, in the former royal palace a sanatorium for peasants was opened, later, in 1931, converted to climatic treatment plant.

Another very interesting, in architectural terms, originally-rounded structure on three legs - an international pension "Friendship" was built in 1985. The building is equipped with environmentally friendly heating system due to the heat of the Black Sea.
Park Livadia is also of great interest.

It is a pleasure to have a walk there. Tracks and paths are laid in such way that each turn opens up more and more new species. According to the nature of planning the park belongs to landscape planning. There are about 400 species of trees and shrubs in it. The skillful combination of deciduous and coniferous trees gives an extremely picturesque view.

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