Bitsevsky Forest Natural and Historical Park in the very south of Moscow covers an area of over 18 square kilometres and is second in size only to Losyny Ostrov in the north of the city.  In addition to areas of natural beauty, the park also incorporates many historical sites, including ancient settlements and burial mounds and three estates, as well as being a popular venue for walking, skiing and other sport activities.

Uzkoe Estate

The Uzkoe Estate is located in Bitsevsky Forest in between Konkovo, Tyoply Stan and Yasnovo metro stations on the side of the forest to the west of Sevastopolsky Prospekt.   The historical name of the land where the estate is located is Uzkoe and the first estate was built here in 1641 by statesman Maksim Streshnev.  Over the centuries the estate then passed to another branch of the Streshnevs, then the Golitsyns, Tolstoys and finally the Trubetskys.  It was under the Trubetsky family that the surviving neo-classical estate house was built according to a plan by the architect Sergey Rodionov.  After the Revolution, the estate was nationalised and given over to the Soviet Academy of Sciences for use as a sanatorium and was frequented by academics such as the scientist Lev Landau and the mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov.  Today it remains the property of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Between approximately 1693 and 1697 baroque-style Our Lady of Kazan Church was built on the estate on the orders of Tikhon Streshnev.  In 1930 the church was closed and subsequently used as an archive for old books. It was only returned to the Orthodox church in 1990 and reopened in 1992 when a new home was found for the books.

Yasenevo Estate

Another estate within Bitsevsky Forest is the Yasenevo Estate which is located close to the Novoyasenevskaya metro station.  The area of Moscow known as Yasenevo has been known to exist since the 13th century and was owned by the Lopukhin family since the 17th century.   In approximately the 1730s an estate house with two wings was built on the orders of the Lopukhins.  Later the estate passed to the Gagarin noble family.  After the Russian Revolution the estate was nationalised and in 1924 the estate house's second floor was destroyed by fire and was only restored in the 1970s.  Today the house remains empty and in need of restoration work.

Just north of the estate house, closer to the metro station, is Ss Peter and Paul's Church.  The church was built between 1751 and 1753 on the orders of Feodor Lopukhin, who was also responsible for the development of the whole Yasenevo Estate.  The church is most famous for the wedding which took place here in 1822 between Lev Tolstoy and Maria Volkonskaya.  The church was closed in the 1930s and only reopened in 1997.