> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Today, for the Museum Affairs series, we spoke with Nadezhda Kulakova, Director of the Griboyedov Khmelita State Museum-Reserve of History, Culture and Nature - URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/segodnia-dlia-rubriki-delamuzeinye-my-pobesedovali-s-nadezhdoi-kulakovoi-direktorom-gosudarstvennogo-istoriko-kulturnogo-i-prirodnogo-muzeia-zapovednika-griboedova-khmelita/ - Published: 2020-08-14T14:31:06.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-01T05:42:23.000Z - Author: Alexandr Radayev - Tags: Interviews, Museums, Heritage, Nature *Today, for the Museum Affairs series, we spoke with Nadezhda Kulakova, Director of the Griboyedov Khmelita State Museum-Reserve of History, Culture and Nature. Nadezhda Viktorovna kindly told us how Khmelita looks after its ancient trees, which were already fully grown in Griboyedov's day.* \- - We reported on the treatment of Khmelita's long-lived trees [earlier](https://theparnassian.com/usadebnyi-park-eto-ochen-slozhnyi-organizm-kotoryi-trebuet-ne-tolko-ukhoda-no-i-poroi-nastoiashchego-medosmotra-i-lecheniia/?ref=theparnassian.com), last autumn, when dendrologists carried out a [preliminary survey of the trees](https://theparnassian.com/osmotr-derevev-podtverdil-gipotezu-kolleg-iz-pushkinskikh-muzeev-chto-park-v-khmelite-vpolne-vozmozhno-masonskii/?ref=theparnassian.com). **\- Had you treated trees in the Khmelita park before, or had you only surveyed their condition?** \- We watched our green residents of the park for a long time and saw how unwell they were. So we decided to turn to specialists and have the old oaks treated. **\- Which trees were treated this time, and what do the specialists say?** \- The oaks in our park fall into three age groups: 100 years, 200 years and more than 300 years. They are witnesses to many of the events that have taken place on the estate. The limes in the memorial zone, by contrast, show a wider spread of ages: there are new plantings of ten years and more, and there are old ones, over 150 years old, although in our part of the country limes and other trees do not usually live long. The pride of the park is an ash tree, which according to the specialists is about 200 years old. It grows beside the pond and is a species rare in central Russia. We established the age and condition of the trees by taking core samples. The procedure struck us as not entirely gentle or painless, but the specialists assured us that no harm would come to the trees. Small holes are bored into the trunk, and the age and condition of the tree are determined from the characteristics of the trunk and other indicators. **\- Where do the traces of fire on the trunk of one of the trees come from?** \- One of our oaks, to all appearances, once burned, and there are no witnesses left. The charring was most likely caused by lightning. It might have been a bonfire, but lightning is the likelier cause, since the place where the fire started is far too characteristic of that kind of ignition. The vertical cracks are frost cracks. The trunks had become overgrown and infested with trunk pests. **\- What does the treatment of a tree involve?** \- Specialists from Moscow made special scrapers, with which they first worked over the trunks of the sick trees, removing the excess diseased surface. They then treated them with a protective solution, usually a special grey paint containing preparations that halt the spread of fungi and other pests. But the most important thing is to ensure that the hollow is properly ventilated and that water does not get directly into the trunk. We filled the cracks and ensured a free flow of air so that the trunk could breathe and air. In the past they used to put something like fillings in the hollows, which did great harm to the tree itself: it rotted and then died. We have used a different method, and we believe that with proper care our oaks will delight us all for a very long time yet. **\- Are there equally old trees elsewhere in the reserve, outside the Khmelita park?** \- Within the reserve there remain several fragments of parks from the estates that once flourished here. One is the estate of Grigoryevskoye, where the Lykoshins once lived, who were distantly related to the Griboyedovs. Avenues and fragments of the park survive there. The museum-reserve hopes to take up the improvement of the grounds in the near future. Another is the estate of Bogoroditskoye, where our military memorial "To the Soldiers of the Western and Reserve Fronts" now stands; limes remain in its park, and there was once a large orangery. Then there are the protected zones surrounding the Khmelita estate. \- - `Follow the museum on `[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/griboedovmuseum/?ref=theparnassian.com) `for new stories about the Griboyedov family nest.`