Photo: Maria Nosyreva

How it all began

The history of the city garden of the Avtozavodsky district began in the 1930s, along with the development of the Gorky Automobile Plant and the construction of the Sotsgorod microdistrict. April 19For 35 years, during the subbotnik, local Komsomol members began to improve the swampy area with rare plantings of birch, willow and poplar. The project of the academician of architecture Alexander Nikolsky was taken as the basis: he developed the planning structure of the future park in the form of several intersecting straight alleys with an oval square, a fountain and stalls. At the same time, the first trees were planted here, and later the green frame was supplemented with more than a thousand lindens, maples, birches, ash trees and hundreds of shrubs.

In the 1940s, anti-aircraft batteries were located on the territory of the park, protecting the sky near the Gorky Automobile Plant from enemy aircraft during the Great Patriotic War. But even in difficult times, the park continued to develop. Another attraction has appeared here – the Rodina wooden cinema. It was built according to the project of the architect Boris Anisimov in 1944. And the next year, a cast-iron fence was installed between the city garden and Zhdanov Avenue (now Molodyozhny Avenue). In the same 1945, a fountain appeared in the central part of the space, asphalt was laid on the alleys. At the same time, the territory was officially named the Avtozavodsk Park of Culture and Recreation.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

Over the next decades, the townspeople continued to green the park with new trees and decorate it with flowers. Over time, an open stage for lectures and concerts, a dance floor, and a reading pavilion appeared here. In the 1960s–1980s, the park prospered: many Nizhny Novgorod residents remember how they rode a Ferris wheel here, ate cotton candy and swam in Dredger Lake. In the 1990s, GAZ stopped financing the maintenance of the territory. They tried to transfer it to the balance of the administration, and then created an independent legal entity for management. Today, this is the MP “Avtozavodsky Park”.

What the park looks like today

Over time, the Avtozavodsk Culture and Recreation Park began to fall into disrepair. In the 1990s, the artificial lake became shallow and then dried up: locals remember how they used to fish and ride boats in it, and now ATV rental is located at this place. In 2013, the Rodina cinema was demolished; before that, it had been on fire several times. A little later, a historical and cultural examination revealed that the building had signs of a cultural heritage site.

Many activities have disappeared: the dance floor has closed, the chess club has ceased to operate. Most of the architectural forms and sculptures that adorned the park in the first decades of its existence have been lost. Now the Soviet past of the territory is reminiscent of a family retro attraction with a Ferris wheel, Orbita, Whirlwind, shells and a race track. For younger visitors, there is a town with children’s carousels.

Photo: Natalia Pylina

With the beginning of perestroika, numerous street cafes filled the park alleys. Rest here acquired a slightly different character: noisy companies began to gather in the evenings, residents began to complain about loud music and smoke coming from barbecue houses. Among the residents of other districts, an opinion has even formed about Avtozavodsky Park as a territory with a high crime rate. Some participants in the discussions admitted that their friends do not want to come here for this reason.

What they intend to preserve in the park

In August 1993, the public space received the official status of a monument of landscape architecture. Ksenia Mazina, head of the Nizhegorodgrazhdanproekt project, said that when developing the landscaping concept , the historical construct of the park, included in the subject of protection, will be taken as the basis. This is an axial symmetrical layout with round platforms “strung” on it, which is typical for the planning structure of the territories of the 30s of the XX century.

During the reconstruction, special attention will be paid to the restoration of the cast-iron fence, which was cast by the craftsmen of the 6th foundry shop of the Gorky Automobile Plant. Ksenia Mazina noted that the historical fence can be continued with a new one. If its production is entrusted to the current employees of GAZ, then they can repeat the skill of their predecessors in creating an ornamental grid or come up with something of their own.

Photo: Natalia Pylina

The anti-aircraft gun will be kept in the park during the course of improvement. Every year, rallies are held in the square next to it in memory of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The historical place should continue to remain here in order to remind the descendants of the car factory workers about the heroism of their ancestors. This opinion of the designers was shared by all residents present at the discussions. The entrance group, small architectural forms, and a fountain are also subject to preservation in the park. And, of course, landscaping.

The main landings were carried out in the post-war years, in principle they are now in a satisfactory condition,” said Ksenia Mazina.

Requests to leave the green frame of the Avtozavodsky Park were heard from Nizhny Novgorod residents throughout the evening. Not just save, but supplement with new trees so that it creates a noise screen from dirt, dust and passing cars. In the shade of trees, Nizhny Novgorod residents dream of walking along the paths, listening to birdsong and playing sports. Among other things, they asked not to cut down the ash-leaved maple, which the designer called weeds.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

What Nizhny Novgorod residents offer

In the course of public discussions, citizens spoke with love about Avtozavodsky Park. Most of their proposals were related to the restoration of the lost infrastructure and the revival of the cultural life of the public space. For example, Sergey Kulagin proposed to recreate the demolished cinema “Rodina”, this initiative was supported by many of those present.

The retro direction must be kept in the park. I remember that there were very beautiful sculptures of animals here. Where there is a dry lake now, there was a statue of a woman with an oar, and fish were caught in the lake itself. It is necessary to restore the sculptures, re-build gazebos for recreation, the Rodina cinema with a stage,” Sergey Kulagin shared.

Another participant in the discussions recalled evenings on the dance floor and concerts of brass bands, which in the past years were held on the park stage. Nizhny Novgorod offered to restore the stage so that live music would play on it, as before. People will come here with pleasure to listen to the performers. For convenience, benches can be made next to the stage, the woman noted.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

At the same time, car manufacturers are sure that cultural life should not coexist with drunken rest of companies in street cafes. Therefore, it was proposed to completely remove all barbecue houses from park alleys. According to the head of the administration of the Avtozavodsky district Alexander Nagin, work in this direction is already underway.

I have heard many times that it is necessary to remove all entertainment establishments and barbecue places. Now the central alley has been cleared, it remains to finish off everything else. Now you can walk along the central alley without meeting our car factory workers who are not quite sober coming out. But we will continue the concept. There shouldn’t be places like this! There should be a quiet rest,” Alexander Nagin assured.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

Journalist Egor Gerasimov added that in this matter attention should be paid to improving the reputation of Avtozavodsky Park as a comfortable place to relax. Now it is not such, because the park has many dark nooks and crannies and it is rather unsafe to walk along them. To solve the problem, it is possible to provide lighting and install video surveillance cameras throughout the territory, the man believes.

Is there a place for sports in the park?

Nizhny Novgorod walruses asked to take into account the requests to accommodate their community in the Avtozavodsky park. Their representative, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the region Andrey Tarasov, said that there is a center for health improvement and winter hardening on Lake Zemsnaryad-1. According to him, in winter there is a font here, in which about 130 people improve their health every day. A two-story building was built next to the reservoir: light was brought into it from a neighboring cafe and a toilet was built. But all the same, it is necessary to create more suitable conditions for bathers – to equip a locker room, equip a bathing area and repair communications.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

In general, the topic of sports in the Avtozavodsky Park became one of the most controversial that evening. Now in the public space there is a workout area near the arboretum with horizontal bars and outdoor exercise equipment. In another part of the territory, next to the youth alley, there is a rope town, and on the left side of the main entrance there is a skating rink. In winter, visitors to the park go skiing, in summer they ride bicycles, run and play table tennis. But for some residents, the existing infrastructure seems not enough. They suggested adding volleyball, basketball and mini-football courts to the park, laying running tracks and equipping a skate park.

I support those who “drowned” for sports equipment – playgrounds, workout. I consider it necessary to make sports accessible,” said Valery, a participant in the discussions.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

Opponents of sports enthusiasts, in turn, objected that there was not enough space for all the listed objects in the small area of ​​the park. In their opinion, the green area should primarily remain a quiet recreation area, and sports entertainment can be found at the nearby hand games stadium and the restored Chaika facility.

We believe that our park is not for sports. The sports infrastructure implies too big changes – it is always large-scale, always a lot. Even the futsal field takes up a lot of space. We believe that there are many great places for sports in the district, it is not necessary to take everything to the park, – journalist Yegor Gerasimov argued.

Photo: Maria Nosyreva

During the evening, there were many different proposals for the development of the Avtozavodsky Park. Based on the results of the discussions, the designers will develop a preliminary concept based on them, and then present it to Nizhny Novgorod residents.