This southern city with a unique nature and extremely favorable climate is part of the famous CMS (Caucasian Mineral Waters). Thousands of tourists come here to improve their health. And not only. Many are attracted by numerous attractions.
Pyatigorsk is a city with a rich history, so the architectural and cultural monuments located on its territory are of great value.
Historical reference
It is believed that the city was founded in 1780. Initially, the settlement was called Bish-dag. First, the Konstantinogorsk fortress was built on the banks of the Zolotukha River (a tributary of the Podkumka), on the Azov-Mazdok line. Gradually, a small town appeared around her, in which retired officers began to settle.
The famous traveler and explorer P.S. Pallas came to these places in 1793 and began to study the healing sources well known to the locals. After the publication of the research results, news of the miraculous waters spread rapidly throughout the country. Patients from all over Russia rushed south to saving sources.
Emperor Alexander the First in 1803 issued a decree “On Construction on Hot Waters”. Its implementation was entrusted to the scientist and architect N. A. Lvov. The epidemic of plague, the war with Persia, France and Turkey prevented the implementation of the project. However, after some time they returned to him, and the city gained wide popularity as a health resort.
Donations during the construction
Not very comfortable living and treatment conditions encouraged many wealthy visitors to make voluntary and very generous donations.
At one of the sources, at the expense of the merchant Varvation, wooden baths were built, which in his honor came to be called the "Varvatiev baths". Between the spur Mashuk and Goryachaya Gora, commission agent Chernyavsky built several residential buildings at the source. Thus, it was thanks to donations that the Hot Waters settlement appeared, which became the center of the CMS.
A new stage in the development of the city
After the appointment of General A.P. Ermolov, the commander in chief of the Caucasus Military District, the city began to transform. Under the direction of the general in 1819, the reconstruction of old baths begins. In their place there are new, called "Ermolov baths." Some public buildings are being erected. Active construction begins, including residential buildings.
Railway construction
The flow of people wishing to visit wonderful springs from year to year became more and more, and over time, the need for a railroad ripened. The first branch from Rostov to Mineralnye Vody was launched in 1875. A highway was laid from it to Pyatigorsk. Eighteen years later, a railway was built between Kuma and Pyatigorsk, and all vacationers could drive directly to the resort.
The city's attractions
In addition to wonderful sources, the city is famous for its historical and architectural monuments. Today we will make a short distance journey through Pyatigorsk.
Second Athos Assumption Monastery. Its construction was associated with the need to improve not only the body, but also the soul. Hieromonk Gerasim erected the monastery with twenty inhabitants from Athos at Mount Beshtau. The monastery lived a calm and measured life until 1927, until the Bolsheviks closed it. The novices went into the mountains, built cells and chapels there. Many of them are well preserved to this day.
Residents of the city sent numerous complaints and requests to the authorities about the revival of the monastery. Despite this, the persecution of the monks continued, and the monastery building was destroyed. In this place the Grace spring remained, and in 1997 a worship cross appeared here . He became a symbol of the rebirth of the holy monastery.
Another three years passed, and a new temple was erected at this place.
The prototype of the Temple of Aeolus
In 1831, on the highest platform of Mount Mashuk, a gazebo “Eolova Harp” was built of amazing beauty by the design of J. Bernardazzi. A unique musical instrument was installed in the gazebo. Aeolian harp at that time was widespread in Europe. It consisted of two ordinary harps placed in a wooden case, with the so-called wing, which unfolded the harps at an angle to the wind. The harp sang under the influence of air currents. She stood in the gazebo until 1861.
Later, in the 90s, a simplified model of the aeolian harp was installed on the dome of the gazebo in the summer, and in Soviet times a unique electronic “aeolian harp” was placed here, which sounded for twenty years. Since 2008, the function of the harp has been performed by audio equipment.
Academic Gallery
In Pyatigorsk this building can be seen from any point - light and light, it fills the soul with joy. This miracle is located in the Goryachevodskaya Valley, which was lost between the Inner Range and Mount Goryachaya.
When the resort was just beginning, the main life was in full swing at the hot springs and baths located near them. Somewhere in the distance from the bowels of the earth an unknown source beat with lukewarm water. Only thanks to the Moscow doctor Fedor Haaz managed to find out her healing power. The doctor called his find the Elizabethan acid-sulfur well.
Soon, longing for healing, they came here in an endless stream, and many of them were sure that the more water you drink, the sooner you will recover. Therefore, they drank up to thirty glasses daily.
In between the “procedures” people walked nearby. However, such a walk is pleasant in good clear weather. And if the street is cold piercing wind or heavy rain? Therefore, in this place a simple canopy was built, which was soon replaced by a wooden one.
When the deputy governor of the Caucasus became M.S. Vorontsov, an intelligent man with a delicate taste, the construction of the gallery began. He elected the Englishman, the architect Samuel Upton, to build the Crimean palace of Vorontsov, as the executor of the project. The architect was instructed to build capital galleries at mineral springs. The viceroy rightly believed that it would be much more pleasant for vacationers in such conditions to drink water in good weather and in bad weather.
The architect carried out the will of Vorontsov. Unfortunately, Upton's beautiful work was not used for long. At the end of the nineteenth century, the doctors of this popular resort decided that drinking mineral water was useless. Both the gallery and the source itself were unnecessary. Its halls began to be adapted for different purposes - hospital wards, a haven for the poor, rooms for bathing. There was even a cafe and restaurant. In 1925, the resort became therapeutic again, and the Academic Gallery got its current name, in honor of the significant date - the bicentennial of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
This city surprisingly harmoniously combines natural and man-made attractions. Pyatigorsk and its inhabitants are proud of the fabulous grottoes available on this earth. Get to know them in more detail.
Diana's Grotto
Initially, this structure was called the grotto of Elborus, in honor of the first expedition ascent to Elbrus. This event happened in 1829. In 1830, the architect Giuseppe Bernardazzi created a project according to which in 1831 the grotto was built and completely finished. At the entrance there were two cast iron boards on which the details of this ascent were inscribed in Russian and Arabic. It was later renamed. And they called the grotto of Diana, the patroness of hunting in ancient Roman mythology.
This is a cave artificially carved in a rock on Mount Goryachaya. It is decorated with columns of stone. The arch of the grotto with three entrances is laid out from ash tuff. The floor is covered with hewn plates. Inside, on special brackets, a semicircular bench of well-polished plates was fixed. In the center of the room on a pedestal, a table made of polished stone was installed. In front of the entrance, they equipped a platform and planted white roses and acacia.
This grotto is inextricably linked with the name of the great Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov. He loved to be here. A few days before his tragic death, Mikhail Yurievich and his friends arranged a "village ball" here.
The last major restoration of the grotto was carried out in 1974. The memorial plaque testifies to the great poet being here .
Where did Princess Mary live?
As you know, the princess has a collective image. The heroine of the novel was "settled" by a Hungarian artist Mihai Zichi in a house on 12 Kirova Avenue, when in 1881 he arrived in the city to study its sights. Pyatigorsk impressed the master with its beauty. Walking along its streets, he saw this very, unremarkable house. He depicted it in the illustrations to the story of Lermontov as the house of Princess Mary. It was a typical wooden structure for that time, which was later faced with brick. Today it is a building in which people live.
Memory of the poet
In general, many sights are associated with the name of the poet in the city. Pyatigorsk is the city where he lived the last years of his short life, wrote his best works and met his death.
During the creation of the Emanuele Park, the Bernardazzi brothers created two grottoes: small and large. The latter is of natural origin. This is a small cave, which is only slightly deepened. Since 1860, it began to be called Lermontov's Grotto.
At the beginning of the last century, CMS director Khvoshchinsky decided to erect a structure of metal and glass in Pyatigorsk. An agreement was signed for the construction of the gallery with the Polish company “Vl. Gostynsky and Co. ”. The gallery opened to visitors in early 1902. Residents of the city immediately called it "Lermontov Gallery." To this day, it has been preserved practically unchanged. Today it belongs to the State Philharmonic. It has exhibition and concert halls. Luminaries such as Ermolova, Chaliapin, Mayakovsky, Sobinov and others performed here.
The place of the duel of M. Yu. Lermontov today is marked by a monument to the work of B. M. Mikeshin. I must say that significant changes were made to his project, with which the author was not satisfied.
Museums
On the street of the Bernardazzi Brothers, not far from the entrance to the Tsvetnik park, there is the local history museum of Pyatigorsk. It was founded in 1905. Its exposition has more than 100 thousand exhibits that acquaint visitors with the culture, history and nature of this wonderful city from ancient times.
The museum’s collection contains a skull and some fragments of the skeleton of a southern elephant that lived on Earth more than a million years ago. The interest of visitors is caused by the mask of Alexander of Macedonia from the Roman Empire. In addition, rare collections of firearms and knives are presented here.
Pyatigorsk Museum of Local Lore can be proud of a unique collection of paintings by Russian and foreign artists of the 18-19 centuries.
The next point of our correspondence city tour will be the museum "First Steps in the Electric Power Industry". It is located in a small house near the building of a thermal power station. Since 1997, it became a memorial, and a year later became a member of the association of clubs “UNESCO of Russia”.
The Verzilin House is part of the M. Yu. Lermontov Museum-Reserve. This is a cultural and historical monument of federal significance. The building of a typical urban provincial building of the early 19th century is a one-story building, built of wood on a stone foundation, has an iron roof. The house was created in 1822. Seven years later, it was acquired by M.I. Verzilin. It was here that on July 25, 1841, the great poet was called to a duel. A memorial plaque hangs on the facade of this house.
Throughout the 19th century, the Verzilin family owned the house. In 1920, he was nationalized. In 1945, the Lermontov House Museum was established here. In the late forties, a literary department of the museum was opened in the house, which talked about the life and work of the poet. In 1968, the exposition was updated. She tells the story of Lermontov in the Caucasus.
Chinese arbor
It got such a name thanks to its bizarre architectural form. Previously, it was decorated with colored glasses, because it was called "Colored". Appeared in Pyatigorsk in 1902, but was destroyed. In 1974, I.F. Shakhovskaya, a famous sculptor, created a new gazebo with a magnificent view of the Mashuk, Elbrus and Beshtau mountains and the picturesque panorama of the city.
Failure lake
The natural monument of Pyatigorsk is an unusual cave having a conical shape. At the bottom of it splashes a rather large karst lake filled with bright blue mineral water (due to the high content of hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen sulfide bacteria in it). It is fifteen meters long and eleven wide. After a tunnel fifty-eight meters long was dug in 1858, healing water was used for bathing. In 1885, the lake and the tunnel in the Grotto of Dip were solemnly consecrated, and an icon of the Mother of God was installed in a special niche of the cave, which was subsequently replaced by the icon of the healer Panteleimon.
Tourists reviews
Visitors to Pyatigorsk are satisfied with their trip. Their positive reviews are associated with the unusually beautiful nature of these places, the opportunity to see unique historical monuments with their own eyes.
Many kind words are received by the museum staff, who collect and keep the priceless exhibits associated with the history and culture of their hometown bit by bit. Many note a well-thought-out tour route and the professionalism of local guides.
People who come to Pyatigorsk for treatment leave both positive and negative reviews. The former are associated with the undeniably beneficial effect of healing waters on their bodies and a significant improvement in health.
Negative reviews are most often associated with an unreasonably high price for tickets to the sanatorium complex.