The park was laid out in the classical style, following the model of regular French parks. The name of the park comes from its shape: its outward paths form a square, and the ones inside cross in the center and divide the park into eight triangles, or «wedges». Leo Tolstoy once gave a very precise description of the park, when he called it «a square and a star». The «Wedges» has not changed much during the more than two hundred years of its existence. As it was in the time of Tolstoy’s mother Maria, apple trees still grow within its «wedges». And the old lime-tree avenues were witnesses to Prince Volkonsky’s walks to the music of his domestic peasant orchestra. Benches for the musicians were located on the circular area in the middle of the park. Describing the life of the Bolkonsky family at their estate of Bald Hills in War and Peace, Tolstoy often speaks about his grandfather and mother; a detailed description of his grandfather’s walks in the «Wedges» Park can be found in the drafts of the novel.