Academician Tsitsin. Main Botanical Garden named after

USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), VASKhNIL (1938; vice-president in 1938-1948). Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978); Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1978) and the Stalin Prize of the second degree (1943).

Biography

Born on December 18, 1898 in Saratov. Coming from a poor peasant family, as a teenager he worked at a factory in Saratov.

During the civil war, Nikolai Vasilyevich was a military commissar, defending the Soviet Republic with arms in his hands. The Soviet government opened the path to education for young workers. He studied at the workers' faculty, and then at the Saratov Agricultural Institute.

Graduated from the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (1927).

After graduating from the institute, he worked at the Saratov Agricultural Experiment Station. Communication with such outstanding breeders as N. G. Meister, A. P. Shekhurdin, P. N. Konstantinov determined the further direction of the young scientist’s work. From the very beginning, he was interested in the problem of creating more productive varieties of the main food crop - wheat - based on distant hybridization. Working as an agronomist at one of the departments of the grain state farm "Giant" in the Salsky district of the Rostov region, Tsitsin crossed wheat with wheatgrass and for the first time obtained a wheat-wheatgrass hybrid, which was the beginning of his work in this direction. He widely involved in crossing wild and cultivated plants that had gone through independent evolutionary paths that determined their genetic isolation. Research conducted by scientists in this direction has made it possible to create new plant varieties.

In 1931-1937 he was the head of the laboratory of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids he organized, in 1938-1948 he was the chairman of the State Commission for Variety Testing of Agricultural Crops at the USSR Ministry of Agriculture, in 1940-1957 he was the head of the Laboratory of Remote Hybridization of the USSR Academy of Sciences, from 1945 the director of the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Chairman of the Board of the Council of Botanical Gardens of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The main works are devoted to distant hybridization of plants. By crossing wheat with wheatgrass, a new type of wheat (Triticum agropynotriticum) was obtained. Author of wheat-wheatgrass hybrid varieties. Honorary member of a number of academies of socialist countries. President (1958-1970) and vice-president (since 1970) of the Soviet-Indian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations.

Member of the CPSU(b) since 1938. Delegate to the 20th Congress of the CPSU. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st, 3rd and 4th convocations.

Scientific works

• - Chief Editor

Awards and prizes

• Stalin Prize, second degree (1943).
• Lenin Prize (1978).
• Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978).
• He was awarded five Orders of Lenin (according to other sources - seven orders), the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, as well as medals.

Perpetuating the memory of N.V. Tsitsina

Memorial plaque to academician N.V. Tsitsin installed on the House on the Embankment

Memorial plaque to academician N.V. Tsitsin is installed near the main building of the botanical garden named after. N.V. Tsitsina RAS

The Main Botanical Garden in Moscow is the largest in Europe. There are countless collections of various plants that are found on all continents and in all climatic zones of the planet. The vast territory contains different varieties of flora, planted using the latest landscape design techniques. For more than 70 years, the garden has literally been thriving, expanding and being one of the main cultural sites of the capital.

History of the formation of the Main Botanical Garden

GBS was founded in April 1945 as one of the events in honor of the 220th birthday of the USSR RAS. More than 360 hectares of land were allocated to organize a botanical garden in the Ostankino Forest Park.

The first mention of this land dates back to 1584. Then the territory belonged to the princes of Cherkasy. After some time, it was transferred to Sheremetev and received the name “Ostashkovo village”. Together with the estate located here, the forest park area was the dowry of Varvara Cherkasskaya, the wife of Peter Sheremetev. Over time, the English Park was created. This was done by Count Nikolai Sheremetev, the owner of Ostankino. In order to create a natural landscape, the count hired a gardener originally from England. On the huge area of ​​the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, lindens, oaks and maples, viburnum and honeysuckle were planted, 5 ponds were dug, the water into which came from the Kamenka River.

A unique forest area of ​​the Russian capital was allocated for the formation of the largest botanical garden in Europe. And only thanks to the work of the scientific staff, it was possible to preserve intact and intact fragments of the ancient grove, oak grove and forest. From the day of its founding and for 24 years, the USSR Academy of Sciences transferred into the ownership of the GBS the lands on which the main exhibitions are now located.

The first director of the park is Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin. Actually, that’s why the GBS RAS bears his name. Nikolai Vasilyevich is the founder of the garden, under his leadership the design of the territory was carried out and scientific and laboratory activities took place.

From the first days of the existence of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after N.V. Tsitsin, famous scientists worked there, which had a positive effect on the construction time and subsequent development of the park. Today, 150 researchers work here. GBS RAS also trains scientific personnel - over the entire period of its existence, about 200 people have studied in graduate school.

From the moment the garden was founded, the management recognized the expediency of exchanging experience and results of scientific research with other botanical gardens of the USSR. To achieve this goal, periodic production of serial printed publications began in 1948. The materials presented in the articles talked about all the important moments in the world of botany and in the life of the Main Botanical Garden in particular.

Since 1976, the GBS RAS has been cooperating with the United States on the problem of protecting endangered plants. In order to preserve the environment, joint expeditions are regularly conducted to regions of the USA and CIS countries.

Description of the forest park area

The park covers an area of ​​361 hectares. Of these, 52 hectares are allocated to the park area, and the same amount is occupied by a protected oak forest. There are exhibitions on another 150.4 hectares. GBS RAS has a huge number of plants. The collections include the flora of all countries that were once part of the USSR, tropical and subtropical, cultivated and floral and ornamental plants. In total, more than 8,000 forms and varieties, about 8,200 species are collected here, and the total number of taxa is about 16,300 elements.

Structural and non-structural formations

Main Botanical Garden named after. N.V. Tsitsina in Moscow includes departments:

• dendrology;
• flora;
• ornamental plants;
• plant protection;
• tropical and subtropical plants;
• distant hybridization;
• cultivated plants;
• implementation of the latest developments.

And laboratories:

• plant biotechnology;
• physiology and biochemistry;
• landscape architecture;
• physiology and immunity of plants;
• herbarium.

Also, the structural scientific unit includes a branch located in the city of Cheboksary - the Cheboksary Botanical Garden.

Non-structural scientific departments include the group of chemosystematics and evolutionary biochemistry of plants. In addition, scientific and auxiliary units have been organized in the botanical garden, including the Altai stronghold and other production services responsible for maintaining the garden territory and conducting research work. Since 1947, a scientific library has been operating, which is a department of the Library of Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Schematic representation of the Main Botanical Garden named after N.V. Tsitsin

The layout of the GBS RAS can be seen most clearly on the map. There are several entrances to the botanical garden from different sides:

• the main one is from the side of the street. Botanical;
• from the side of the Ostankino Hotel;
• from the street Komarova;
• from the metro side - Vladykino station.

The following objects are numbered in the diagram:

• arboretum;
• reserved oak grove;
• rose garden;
• shady garden;
• coastal plants;
• continuously flowering plants;
• exposition of plants of natural flora;
• Japanese garden;
• cultivated plants;
• natural forest;
• laboratory;
• stock greenhouse;
• new greenhouse.

Collection funds

On the area allocated for the Main Botanical Garden of Moscow, several exhibitions dedicated to different parts of the world have been recreated:

• "Caucasus".
• "European part of Russia".
• "Middle Asia".
• "Far East".
• "Siberia".
• "Useful plants."

The greenhouse is the place where plants are grown and then supplied to all botanical gardens located in Russia and the countries of the USSR. The collection began with the orchid family: just over 100 Paphiopedilum and 120 Cattleya hybrids, and 140 other orchid genera. All of them were brought from Germany in 1947. Today the collection has expanded significantly and has been supplemented with other plant species. There are more than 1120 of them in total. Of these, 300 are hybrids and 222 subspecies and forms of orchids.

New greenhouse

Recently, the construction of a new greenhouse was completed within the Main Botanical Garden. The building is a structure with a height of over 33 m and an area of ​​approximately 9,000 m². Several blocks have been formed here, each of which meets certain climatic conditions. So, in the new greenhouse there are blocks “Moist forests”, “Tropics” and “Subtropics”. To create a naturalistic landscape, cascades of pools, rivers, waterfalls and reliefs were organized, trail systems were laid, artificial rocks and grottoes were formed. Here you can even make a tropical fog and “cause” rain - all so that the plants develop in their usual conditions.

Interesting facts, or why you should visit the park

1. A unique opportunity to get acquainted with plants growing in our country and abroad.
2. Japan in Russia - cherries and azaleas grow in the Japanese garden, a gazebo is installed and there is a small pond. This is a great place for those who want to be alone.
3. Within the Main Botanical Garden named after. Tsitsin (GBS RAS) there is an opportunity to take a walk in the forest, in which a wide variety of trees grow, for example, catalpa, white acacia, Japanese quince, North American thuja, hornbeam and much more.
4. Several ponds have been created here, strewn with water lilies, near which it will be pleasant to relax.
5. In the greenhouse, which was already mentioned above, you can take a tour. Who doesn’t want to find themselves in the tropics in the middle of a noisy metropolis?

It will be interesting to know that the Moscow Botanical Garden takes part in many international exhibitions. GBS was awarded 30 diplomas, the collection includes more than 100 gold, silver and bronze medals.

Other information

How to get to the botanical garden? GBS RAS is located on the street. Botanicheskaya, building 4. You need to take the metro to the VDNKh station, from there by trolleybus to the Botanical Garden stop. From the Vladykino metro station you can walk to the GBS RAS.

- (1898 1980) Russian botanist and breeder, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939) and VASKhNIL (1938), twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978). Proceedings on remote hybridization of agricultural plants. Lenin Prize (1978), State... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- [R. 6(18).12.1898, Saratov], Soviet botanist, geneticist and breeder, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), VASKhNIL (1938; vice president in 1938-48), Hero of Socialist Labor (1968). Member of the CPSU since 1938. Graduated from the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and... ...

TSTSIN NIKOLAY VASILIEVICH- Years of life: 12/18/1898–07/17/1980 Born in Saratov. Graduated from the Saratov State Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (1927). Doctor s. X. Sciences (1936), Academician of VASKhNIL (1938). An outstanding botanist, breeder and geneticist.... ... Biographical encyclopedia of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Tsitsin, Nikolai Vasilievich- Tsitsin Nikolai Vasilievich (1898 1980), Russian botanist and breeder. Proceedings on remote hybridization of agricultural plants. He obtained high-yielding wheat-wheathy hybrids that were resistant to lodging and diseases, and created a spring variety... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1898 1980), botanist and breeder, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939) and VASKhNIL (1938), Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978). Works on remote hybridization of agricultural plants. USSR State Prize (1943), Lenin Prize (1978) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- [p.6(18) Dec. 1898] Sov. botanist and breeder, academician. (since 1939) and valid. member VASKHNIL (since 1932). Member CPSU since 1938. Dep. Top. Soviet of the USSR 1st, 3rd and 4th convocations. In 1927 he graduated from the Institute. x va and land reclamation in Saratov and worked in the All-Union Institute... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

- (1898, Saratov 1980, Moscow), botanist, geneticist and breeder, academician (1939), VASKHNIL (1938; in 193848 vice president), Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978). Graduated from the Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in Saratov (1927).... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Surname Tsitsin, Konstantin Georgievich (born 1960) Russian statesman Tsitsin, Nikolai Vasilyevich (1898 1980) Soviet botanist and breeder, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and VASKhNIL See also Titin Tsitsianov ... Wikipedia

Nikolai Vasilyevich (1898 1980), botanist and breeder, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939) and the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1938), twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978). Works on remote hybridization of agricultural plants. Lenin Prize (1978), ... ... Russian history

Nikolai Vasilievich [b. 6 (18).12.1898, Saratov], Soviet botanist, geneticist and breeder, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), VASKhNIL (1938; in 1938 48 vice president), Hero of Socialist Labor (1968). Member of the CPSU since 1938. Graduated from Saratov... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

If we cover the sights of the capital, which every person simply must visit, then the list of the most important of them will certainly include the Main Botanical Garden, named after its first director Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin. Located in the eastern part of Moscow, next to VDNKh, the Botanical Garden welcomes its guests from late April to mid-October. Before the opening of each season, as well as after its completion, regular plantings of cultivated plants are carried out in the garden.

Botanical address, opening hours

The nearest metro station from the GBS is "Vladykino", from which bus route 76 runs from there, on which those who want to visit the country's largest botanical garden will travel only 4 stops to the Ostankino hotel. Starting from April 29, GBS operates daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The season traditionally ends on October 19. Guests planning to visit the exhibitions should carefully read the opening hours. Some exhibitions are closed 2 days a week for maintenance work. An exhibition such as the “Japanese Garden” has a shortened opening hours from Tuesday to Friday.

Wide range of exhibitions and greenhouses

Includes a diverse collection of plants brought from all over the world. The country's richest botanical collection began in the spring of 1945. Since then, outstanding botanists and breeders have worked to expand the exhibitions. Guests of the garden can visit the following exhibitions:

• The famous Japanese Garden.
• The best collection of tropical aquatic plants in Europe.
• "Arboretum".
• "Rose garden".
• "Continuously blooming garden."
• "Exhibition of cultivated plants."
• "Shadow Garden"
• Numerous greenhouses.
• Exhibition of natural flora.
• Collection of flowering ornamental plants.

GBS card

If your plans for the near future include visiting, how to get to the place, you can look at the directions on the map. Believe me, you will not regret this excursion! In addition to the exhibitions already described, on the territory there are: a protected oak grove, a heather garden and areas of natural forest. The employees of the laboratory building help to monitor all this splendor; the collection greenhouse helps to preserve the collections in their original form. Botanists and breeders of the GBS do not want to rest on the laurels of past achievements and plan to expand existing collections, as well as build new exhibitions.

Botanical Garden (Moscow), how to get there for a visitor

If guests of the capital have poor local orientation, especially if they decide to visit the GBS for the first time, then it will be useful for them to know the following: the main thing is to find the route to the Vladykino metro station on metro maps. From the station to the main entrance to the exhibitions you will have to walk approximately 10 minutes. The main gate is located on the side of Botanicheskaya Street. In addition to the main entrance, there are several gates around the perimeter of the garden. On the road from the metro exit you will see a small gate. There are also entrances from the border with VDNH.

Traveling by personal transport

Many nature lovers travel by personal transport, so the question arises when they want to visit the Botanical Garden (Moscow): “How to get to the place from Dmitrovskoye or Altufevskoye highway, and which route is better to choose?” passes through the Otradnoe district up to the territory of the GBS. If you drive along Dmitrovskoye Highway, you will need to get to the intersection with Bolshaya Akademicheskaya Street.

Public transport routes from VDNH metro station

Of course, the Vladykino metro station is not the only one from where you can take a bus and go to the Botanical Garden (Moscow). How to get to the place by getting off at the VDNH metro station? Bus routes 24, 85 and 803 run to the country, as well as trolleybuses 9, 36 and 73.

How much are entrance tickets?

Children under 7 years of age accompanied by adults, as well as pensioners, can enjoy free entry to the territory. For all other categories of the population, the entrance fee is:

• For adults - 50 rubles
• For students and schoolchildren - 30 rubles.

As you can see, the entrance fee is purely symbolic. Next we follow the most popular exhibitions. Entrance to the rose garden and the exhibition of decorative flowers costs 100 rubles per adult. Discounts are available for children and pensioners. Adult tickets to view the unique exhibition "Japanese Garden" on weekdays cost 150 rubles (due to shortened opening hours), on weekends and holidays - 200 rubles. Now we have found out, having decided to explore the Botanical Garden (Moscow), how to get to it, and how much entrance tickets cost. All that remains is to decide which exposure to start the inspection with.

Anniversary of the Botanical Garden

In 2015, GBS celebrates its 70th anniversary. For this significant event, it is planned to open the huge glass building of the New Orangery. The entire surrounding area is cleaned and landscaped daily. And now we can safely say that the celebrations will take place in conditions of ideal order and beauty. Since the opening took place at the end of the Great Patriotic War, much attention is paid to exhibits imported from Germany, which can be viewed in the Stock Greenhouse.

Best exposures

We have already learned a lot about the Botanical Garden of Expositions and briefly covered the history of its creation. The real gem of the project is the rose garden. It is also worth noting the significance of two special exhibitions. We will talk about a collection of tropical plants and the “Japanese Garden”. No other botanical garden throughout Europe has such an extensive collection of coastal plants. These include wild, cultivated and flowering specimens. If you have a great desire to admire the blooming sakura, brought to the Botanical Garden (Moscow) many years ago, reviews of which are spreading everywhere, welcome to the “Japanese Garden”. People who once saw this miracle will never forget it. Delicate fragrant flowering trees create a unique atmosphere of peace and tranquility. Orchids, bonsai, and miniature trees miraculously transport visitors far to the East, to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Rose garden

If we talk about the rose garden, it’s worth starting with the history of the exhibition. Back in the middle of the last century, the scientific breeder Ivan Shtanko developed amazing varieties of roses that instantly became popular even abroad. To this day, the varieties Aurora, Yasnaya Polyana and Morning of Moscow are extremely popular outside Russia. The total area occupied by the rose garden is 2.5 hectares. In total, more than 270 different varieties of prickly beauty grow on the territory of the GBS. If we measure the number in the bushes, the figure will be about 6,000 units. Over the long history of the exhibition, the best varieties of roses from all over the world have been collected here. Many foreign rose research firms consider it an honor to collaborate with such a well-known organization as the Botanical Garden (Moscow). Throughout the years of its existence, the GBS address has more than once become the destination for considerable free gifts from partners.

To complete the picture, there are numerous ponds and reservoirs on the territory, framed by centuries-old oak trees. There is an exhibition called “Natural Flora”, which includes trees and shrubs from different regions of the country. These include:

• Plantings
• Types of forests in Siberia.
• Representatives of cultures of the Far Eastern forest.
• Seedlings imported from Central Asia.
• Caucasian plantings.

Visitors, walking around the territory, can get acquainted with the standard of landscape design of the 50s of the last century, which is presented in the exhibition “Garden of Continuous Flowering”.

In conclusion, I would like to wish you aesthetic pleasure and unforgettable moments of unity with nature, which the Botanical Garden (Moscow) can give its guests. Now everyone knows how to get to the selection paradise.

It was a bright head in which ideas blossomed one after another. This was a man who strived with every fiber of his soul to create something new and promote botanical and breeding science. Like many prominent scientists, he had oddities that, they say, were more suitable for an uneducated peasant than for an academician with an all-Union name (they claimed that he “removed damage” from a village healer or at scientific conferences he called for following the Chinese version and exterminating everyone sparrows, which allegedly spoil crops). But we know him first as a project manager on an all-Union scale.

It was this man who first headed VDNH (which opened under the name VSKhV - All-Union Agricultural Exhibition 76 years ago). It was he who took the helm of a grandiose work: first he opened and headed the Main Botanical Garden in Moscow, and then coordinated the creation of a network of botanical gardens throughout the Union. All this is he, Nikolai Tsitsin, a native of our city, who took his first steps in breeding work here.
The warm season, for obvious reasons, is the best period for the work of a scientist involved in selection, genetics, botany, and the most significant achievements of Nikolai Vasilyevich occur precisely in the spring-summer: April 14 (the victorious spring of 1945!) is considered the founding day of the Botanical Garden in Moscow , and August 2, 1939 is the opening day of the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition. However, the “top of summer” also marks a sad date: exactly 35 years ago, on July 17, 1980, Academician Tsitsin passed away.
Let us remember this man, another great Nikolai of Russian genetics and selection, closely associated with Saratov...

Nikolay the second Russian selection
If you say the words “Nikolai”, “genetics” and “Saratov” one after another, then the first association will, naturally, be Nikolai VAVILOV. The brilliant scientist was unlucky: the city where he first promulgated his famous law of homological series, the city where he was called “Mendeleev of biology,” brought him misfortune, hunger and death. Nikolai Ivanovich’s namesake, Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin, probably did not have the dizzying flight of thought of his colleague, the depth of development of the problem, the extraordinary exclusivity of ideas (however, this is a field for judgments and assessments exclusively of specialists. - Author.) But Nikolai the Second from biology luckier. Significantly more. He lived a long successful life, STALIN himself trusted him, he managed to practically implement most of his projects, ideas, and initiatives. Of course, this is happiness for a scientist.
The achievements of Nikolai Vavilov are striking even in the geography of the colossal selection work: as is known, N.I. was the first European to travel with a caravan through the mountainous Kafiristan, an inaccessible region of Afghanistan; Vavilov was in the Sahara, in Ethiopia, in Syria, he had the opportunity to drive away hungry lions and fight with robbers, selecting grain for a future collection right under bullets. Having visited America, Africa, China and Japan, the Middle East and Central Asia, the peaks of Tibet and the Andes, he collected colossal material - a precious collection of plant seeds, the likes of which had never been collected by anyone.
Tsitsin's life and work, especially at an early stage, are not so bright and do not strike the eye with the variety of forms and scientific approaches. The future academician was born on December 18, 1898 in Saratov into a poor family. After his father's death, his mother gave Nikolai to an orphanage. As a teenager, he began working as a messenger, telegraph operator, and packer in a factory. During the Civil War he took the side of the Reds, fought, in particular, participated in the defense of Tsaritsyn. With the end of hostilities, N.V. returned to Saratov and took the position of head of the cultural department here and became a member of the Provincial Communications Committee (organizational abilities were already evident then). Having only primary education, I decided to continue my studies - first at the workers' faculty, and then at the agronomy faculty of the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. In 1927, the young agronomist found a job at the Saratov Agricultural Experimental Station (later the Research Institute of the South-East). Here he met with people who changed his life, including biologists-breeders Georgiy MEISTER, Alexey SHEKHURDIN and future academician Pyotr KONSTANTINOV.
Tsitsin’s fate was decided: he finally decided to engage in scientific selection, and a little later he would add social and organizational activities to implement large-scale research projects.

Wheat + wheatgrass = food security?
Another meeting that had a huge impact on Tsitsin was the meeting with Ivan MICHURIN. Nikolai Vasilyevich visited Michurin’s garden while still a student, and he said: “Anyone can cross wheat with wheat. Now, if we could find a stronger manufacturer for her, then it would be a different matter...”
The task of obtaining unpretentious varieties of wheat capable of feeding the country was then, at the end of the 20s of the 20th century, more pressing than ever. The terrible famine in the Volga region was still fresh in my memory, collectivization and a new famine in the early 30s were inexorably approaching. And then Tsitsin, inspired by Michurin’s words, decided to cross wheat... with wheatgrass. It was a bold decision: attempts to literally mix the wheat with the chaff, to cross the symbol of the country’s food security with a malicious weed could, I beg your pardon, easily be equated with sabotage, and the conversation with the “pests” was short then. But Tsitsin took a chance and won: having started work on obtaining wheatgrass-wheat hybrids in Saratov, in 1932 he moved to Omsk, where he headed a specialized laboratory (later it would become the Siberian Research Institute of Grain Farming).
...Now, from time to time, reproaches are heard against Tsitsin: they say that he lived in the “agricultural era” of the notorious Trofim LYSENKO and partly identified with his views. Perhaps some of these reproaches are fair, and Nikolai Vasilyevich preferred not to oppose Lysenko in his activities and actually used a certain administrative resource. How else? Clouds were already gathering over Vavilov, a purge of the scientific community was already being prepared... They were preparing, so to speak, to separate the wheat from the chaff... But it was necessary to work. However, even before the Great Patriotic War, N.V. nevertheless quarreled with Lysenko and he ordered Tsitsin’s experimental fields to be plowed.
It is believed that the main goal that Qiqing set for himself was to create perennial wheat. He rose to prominence on this project, and in this area of ​​work he caught the eye of the country’s top leadership. Agricultural experts explain: if noble wheat and harmful wheatgrass were combined in the “golden” proportion, it would be an agricultural revolution. Tsitsin received his first full-fledged hybrid after the war, but in the next generations the wheatgrass genes took over, and the grain was too small, and the harvest was unprofitable, then the wheat genes prevailed - but then the crop was sick.
And the “golden mean” for creating a hardy and tenacious cereal, like wheatgrass, and nutritious and productive, like wheat, is still being sought.

Main projects of life: exhibition and garden
In 1938, Nikolai Tsitsin was appointed director of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition under construction in Moscow. Last year, the capital celebrated the 75th anniversary of the opening of this grandiose exhibition project. In Saratov, the event went, in principle, unnoticed, although the main hero of the occasion was a native of our city.
...On August 2, 1939, over 10 thousand people came to the opening of the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow, Marshal VOROSHILOV, MOLOTOV and Anastas MIKOYAN came. However, the one whom Tsitsin was waiting for more than all the others was not honored. Maybe it was for the best: the leader did not witness the slight embarrassment when Nikolai Vasilyevich pulled the cable to raise the exhibition flag, but something jammed and the flag never flew up.
However, VSHV, even with the jammed flag, was a huge success: in the first year (in 1939 it worked for only two and a half months) three and a half (!) million people visited it. The next year - five months of work and 4.5 million Muscovites and guests of the capital became acquainted with the latest achievements of agriculture, including Tsitsin’s achievements. In 1941, the exhibition was supposed to switch to a permanent format, but was closed a month after the opening of the exhibition. For obvious reasons... And Academician Tsitsin, vice-president of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, went to Alma-Ata, where he continued hard work on the issues of remaking the nature of plants and in 1943 received the Stalin Prize: “I will also introduce into the practice of state and collective farms the new perennials we have created and annual varieties of hybrid wheat.<…>In order to strengthen the power of the Red Army, I ask you to transfer the money from the prize awarded to me, 100,000 rubles, to a special fund of the High Command,” he wrote to the person whose name the prize awarded to N.V. was named.
The war has not yet ended, the victorious salvoes in Berlin have not died down, and Tsitsin finds himself at the head of a new project - the Main Botanical Garden. As contemporaries testify, Tsitsin was very attentive to the implementation of this large-scale initiative, corrected the design documentation, developed the layout of the garden, and tried to fit the new object into the unique protected oak grove, into the special picturesque landscape of this place, as gratefully as possible for nature. I have had the opportunity to visit the Main Botanical Garden more than once, now named after N.V. Tsitsin, a truly amazing place, whoever hasn’t been, deign to visit!
Interesting fact: the basis of the GBS greenhouse was made up of plants from the personal winter garden of Reichsmarshal GOERING, taken from Potsdam. Moreover, they transported not only the flora - they dismantled and reassembled the entire structure in place in the new garden.
As you know, Nikolai Vasilyevich remained the permanent director of both the exhibition and the capital’s botanical garden until his death. In the same way, he did not stop his enormous research work, even a short description of which would not fit in this material. While holding leading positions in Russian science, he was always in the center of public attention. They talked about him a lot, willingly and in different ways: someone talked about how he sent orchids to Ekaterina FURTSEVA, and to Yuri GAGARIN - cacti, which the First, as you know, collected throughout his short life. Someone sarcastically recalled (was it or not?) how Academician Tsitsin, for a moment, the chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, allegedly called on the Young Nationalists in the 50s to exterminate sparrows, by analogy with the experience of the “great helmsman” of the MAO. The author of the Moscow anthem “My Dear Capital”, Mark LISYANSKY, is credited with a malicious epigram: “The birds have fallen silent, / The bees are not buzzing. / Academician Tsitsin / Is embraced by silence...” (I hope that this refers to the dream of an elderly scientist). But, I think, it was clear to both humorists and envious people that in front of them was a man of colossal research culture, experience and patience.
P.S. On September 10 this year it will be exactly 30 years since the bust of Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin was inaugurated at the intersection of Rakhov and, of course, Vavilov streets. Then, in September 1985, the widow of the academician Alla Andreevna, as well as the entire top of the Saratov managerial, industrial, scientific and agricultural elite, were present at the opening of the monument.
Nikolai Vasilyevich always loved color.