Kostiantyn Kasperovych
Director
Kostiantyn Kasperovych was born in 1955 in Chapayevsk, Kuibyshev region. Graduate of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. Worked at the project and construction organizations, at the management of culture of the Sverdlovsk regional executive committee. Since 1989 he has been working at the Alupka museum. Since 1993 - director of the Crimean Republican Establishment "Alupka Palace and Park Reserve". Honoured worker of culture of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Alupka Palace and Park Reserve-Museum was created in 1990 on the basis of the former manor of the Vorontsovs, which included the famous palace and park ensemble, created in 1828-1848 upon the project of the well-known English architect Edward Blor (1789-1879) pursuant to the decision of the Session of the Crimean regional council dated 07.09.1990 and the relevant decision of the Crimean regional executive committee № 300 dated 20.11.1990. The Reserve-Museum is submitted to the Ministry of Culture of the Crimean AR.
The Reserve-Museum comprises the Vorontsovsky Palace-Museum, the Alupka Park - a landscape art sight with an area of 30 h and the Masandra Palace-Museum of Alexander III.
Within the frontiers of the land-tenure there are numerous sights of cultural heritage and the Alupka Park, the masterpiece of landscape constructing, surrounding them, situated on the territory of the Reserve-Museum.
The palace complex consists of five buildings with towers, open and closed yards, terraces, staircases. The basic building material was toadstone, the natural deposits of which were available here in Alupka. The northern part of the main corps resembles the palace out-of-town villas of the English Renaissance of the reign-period of Elisabeth Tudor. The central image of the south fa?ade is a solemn portal. In its decoration there were used the similar elements of England architecture and Moslem building art of the 16th century.
The masterpiece of the landscape art is the Alupka Park. Its creator - the gardener and botanist Karl August Kebakh (1799-1825) - for more than a quarter of the century had been dealing with the planning and growing of plants in the park.
The front interiors of the palace have retained their original decoration. The rare sorts of trees, fabrics, matting, as well as carpets, wood and stone carving were applied there. Each of the rooms is individual and has its own peculiar colouring, reflected in the names: Chinese study, Chintz room, Winter garden, Blue living room. The design of the Festive dining-room reminds the decoration of knights’ halls in medieval castles. It is decorated with splendid wood-engraving and four monumental pictures of the famous French artist Huber Robert (1733-1808).
On August 11, 1921 after the nationalization of the estate there was opened a museum in the palace. Wonderful collections of pictures, sculptures, furniture, porcelain of the last owners the Vorontsovs-Dashkovs were placed in its castles.
In February, 1945 during the period of the historical Yalta conference of the heads of governments of the three allied states the English delegation headed by the Prime minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill was lodged in the Alupka Palace.
From 1945 till 1955 the palace was used as the state summer residence. On April 30, 1956 the museum was opened again.
At present there are several permanent expositions at the museum. The nine state-rooms acquaint the visitors with the way of life of the first masters of the palace and the character of palace interiors of the 30-40-ies of the 19th century. The stationary exhibition of the "Vorontsovs Family Gallery" works in the former guest corps.
In the separate halls there are displayed the exhibitions of the "Ukrainian painting", "Donation of the professor V. Holubev", "Flowers in painting of artists of the 20th century".
There are international scientific conferences annually held within the walls of the reserve-museum. Such conferences, as "Vorontsovsky readings", "World of the manor culture", "To the depths of Slavonic culture" (dedicated to the memory of the academician O. Trubachov), "Religion and civil society" became widely popular. The research workers of the reserve-museum have prepared the range of scientific publications, collections, articles and lectures; published the book "Art collections of the museum".
In 1991 the reserve was complemented with a branch - the Masandra Palace of Alexander III with the adjoining territory of the park.
In May, 2003 there was conducted in Yalta the International seminar aiming at the including of objects, namely the sights of the Alupka reserve-museum, to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

10 Dvortsove Highway, 98676 Alupka,
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
tel.: +38 (0654) 72-2951; 72-22-81; 72-10-30; 72-29-31;
fax: +38 (0654) 72-37-92; 72-10-30
e-mail: Mikhail@ealta.crimea.ua; Alexander@ealta.crimea.ua
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