 The site for the Potemkin palace was bought from retired Cossack yesaul (colonel) Lazar Hloba, who owned much of the land near the city.Part of Lazar Hloba's gardens still exist and are now called Hloba Park.A combination of yet another Russo-Turkish war that broke out later in 1787, bureaucratic procrastination, defective workmanship, and theft resulted in what was built being less than originally planned.