Attractions of Hrafske

The Velykoanadolsky Forest State Reserve was established in 1834-1845 by Forestry Corps colonel Viktor Hraff, the founder of steppe forestry.

In the bare and arid steppe, Hraff first created an artificial forest and founded a school of foresters.

During Soviet times, the Velykoanadolsky Forest was declared a natural monument, and a 7-hectare arboretum was created. Mixed stands of common oak, ash, maple, hornbeam, and linden prevail here. There are birch, poplar, Crimean pine, Amur velvet, European larch, common pine, chestnut and Caucasian oak, walnut, Japanese sophora.

The Velykoanadolsky Forest Museum has been opened in the premises of the former Hraff Meteorological Observatory, built in 1852. The five halls of the museum house a large exhibition, which is thematically divided into three sections: "Stages of Steppe Forestry" (the history of the Velykoanadolsky Forestry from the mid-19th century to the present), "Natural Conditions and Riches of the Velykoanadolsky Forest", "Memorial Complex of Forester Mykola Dakhnov" and "Life in the Late 19th - Early 20th Century".

Dioramas, numerous reports by Viktor Hraff to the Forest Department, plans of the Velykoanadolsky Forestry, photographic materials by Mykola Dakhnov, scientific works by Heorhiy Vysotsky, and material exhibits tell about the development of the Velykoanadolsky Forest and the main stages of forestry. Numerous exhibits also tell about the teachers and students of the Velykoanadolsky Forestry School, which was reorganized into a forestry technical school in 1929. It is now the Velykoanadolsky Forestry College.

A dendropark has been built next to the college, with the building of the former forestry school and a section of the forest where the first oak plantations made by Hraff have been preserved.