Sights of Pyatigorsk - photo and reviews of tourists

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 attract many attractions here.

Pyatigorsk is a city with a rich history, therefore 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Historical reference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, on the bank of the Zolotukhi river (tributary of the Podkumka), on the Azov-Mazdokskaya line, the fortress of Constantinople was built. Gradually, around her, a small town appeared, in which retired officers began to settle.

The famous traveler and researcher PS Pallas came to these places in 1793 and began to study the well-known sources of healing springs. After the publication of the results of the research, the news of miraculous waters swiftly spread throughout the country. Patients from all over Russia rushed to the south, to saving sources.

Emperor Alexander the First in 1803 issued a decree "On construction on the Hot Waters." Its implementation was entrusted to the scientist and architect N. A. Lvov. The epidemic of the plague, the wars with Persia, France and Turkey prevented the implementation of the project. However, after a while they returned to him, and the city gained wide popularity as a health resort.

Donations for construction

Not very comfortable conditions for living and treatment encouraged many wealthy visitors to make voluntary and very generous donations.

One of the sources with the means of the merchant Varvatsiya was built wooden baths, which in his honor began to be called "Varvatsievskimi baths." Between the spur of Mashuk and the Hot Mount the commissioner Chernyavsky built several dwellings at the source. Thus, it was thanks to donations that the Hot Water Settlement became the center of the CMS.

New stage of the city development

After the appointment of General AP Ermolov, Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District, the city began to change. Under the leadership of the general in 1819, the reconstruction of the old baths begins. In their place there are new, called "Ermolovskie baths." Some state buildings are being built. Active construction begins, including residential buildings.

Railway Construction

The flow of those wishing to visit the wonderful springs grew more and more, and eventually a need arose in the railway. 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 the tourists could drive directly to the resort.

The city's attractions

Besides wonderful sources, the city is famous for its historical and architectural monuments. Today we will make a small correspondence journey through Pyatigorsk.

Second-Athos Assumption Monastery. Its construction was associated with the need to improve not only the body, but also the soul. The monastery was built by Hieromonk Gerasim with twenty inhabitants from Mount Athos near Mount Beshtau. The monastery lived a calm and measured life until 1927, until the Bolsheviks closed it. The novices went to the mountains, built cells and chapels there. Many of them are well preserved to the present day.

Residents of the city sent numerous complaints and requests to the authorities for the revival of the monastery. Despite this, the persecution of the monks continued, and the building of the monastery was destroyed. On this place remained the spring of Blagodatny, and in 1997 there was a worship cross. He became a symbol of the revival of the holy abode.

Three more years passed and a new temple was erected on this site.

The prototype of the Temple of Aeolus

In 1831, on the highest platform of Mount Mashuk, a beautiful gazebo called "Aeolov harp" was constructed under the project of J. Bernardazzi. A unique musical instrument was installed in the arbor. The Aeolian harp was widespread in Europe at that time. It consisted of two ordinary harps, placed in a board body, with a so-called wing that unfolded the harps at an angle to the wind. The harp sang under the influence of air currents. She stayed in the gazebo until 1861.

Later, in the 90s, on the dome arbors began to install a simplified model of aeolian harp in the summer, and in Soviet times they placed a unique electronic "eolovu harp", which sounded twenty years. Since 2008, the function of the harp is 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 Goryachevodskoy Valley, which is lost between the Inner Ridge and Mount Goryachey.

When the spa was just starting, the main life was boiling at the hot springs and bathing, near them located. Somewhat distant from the earthly depths struck an unknown source with lukewarm water. Only thanks to the Moscow doctor Fyodor Gaaz managed to find out its healing power. The doctor called his discovery Elizavetinsky sour well.

Soon thirsty for the healing stretched here in an endless stream, and many of them were sure that the more water you drink, the faster you will recover. Therefore, they drank up to thirty glasses a day.

In between "procedures" people walked around. However, such a walk is pleasant in good clear weather. And if the street is a cold piercing wind or pouring rain? Therefore, at this place, built a simple canopy, which soon changed the wooden.

When M. Vorontsov became the governor of the Caucasus, an intelligent man with a delicate taste began to build a gallery. The project's executor, he chose an Englishman, the architect Samuel Upton, who built the Vorontsov's Crimean palace. The architect was commissioned to erect capital galleries from mineral springs. The governor rightly believed that vacationers in such conditions would be much more pleasant to drink water and in good weather, and in bad weather.

The architect fulfilled Vorontsov's will. Unfortunately, Upton's beautiful creation was not used for long. In the late nineteenth century, doctors of this popular resort decided that drinking mineral water is useless. Both the gallery and the source itself were unnecessary. Its halls were adapted for different purposes - hospital wards, a shelter for the poor, a room for taking baths. There were even cafes and a restaurant. In 1925 the resort again became therapeutic, and the Academic Gallery received its current name, in honor of the significant date - the bicentenary of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In this city, natural and man-made sights are surprisingly harmonious. Pyatigorsk and its inhabitants are proud of the fantastic grottoes on this land. Let's get acquainted with them in more detail.

Grotto of Diana

Originally, this structure was called the Grotto Elborus, in honor of the first ascent of Elbrus expedition. This event happened in 1829. In 1830, the architect Giuseppe Bernardazzi created a project, in which in 1831 the grotto was built and completely finished. At the entrance there were two boards of cast iron, in which the details of this ascension were inscribed in Russian and Arabic. Later it was renamed. And they named the grotto of Diana, the patroness of the hunt in ancient Roman mythology.

This is a cave, artificially carved into the rock on Mount Hot. It is decorated with columns of stone. The cave of the grotto with three entrances is laid out of tufa ash color. The floor is covered with hewn slabs. Inside, a semicircular bench of well-ground plates was fixed on special brackets. In the center of the room on a pedestal a table made of polished stone was installed. In front of the entrance, a pad was set up and white roses and acacia planted.

This grotto is inextricably linked with the name of the great Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov. He loved to come here. A few days before his tragic death, Mikhail Yurievich and his friends arranged a "village ball" here.

The last serious restoration of the grotto was carried out in 1974. The fact that there was a great poet here is shown by a plaque.

Where did Princess Mary live

As you know, the image of the princess is collective. The heroic story of the novel in the house on Kirov Ave. 12 was settled by the Hungarian artist Mihai Zichi, when in 1881 he came to the city to study his sights. Pyatigorsk has amazed the master with its beauty. Walking through its streets, he saw this, an unremarkable house. He depicted him in illustrations of Lermontov's story as the house of Princess Mary. It was a typical wooden structure at that time, which was later lined with brick. Today it is a building in which people live.

Memory of the poet

In general, many sights are connected 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 brothers Bernardazzi created two grottoes: small and large. The latter is of natural origin. This is a small cave, which was only slightly deepened. Since 1860 he was called the grotto of Lermontov.

At the beginning of the last century, the director of KMV Khvoshchinsky decided to build a building in Pyatigorsk from metal and glass. An agreement was concluded for the construction of a gallery with the Polish firm Vl. Gostynsky and Co.. " The gallery opened to visitors in the beginning of 1902. Residents of the city immediately called it "Lermontov Gallery." Up to now, it has remained practically unchanged. Today it belongs to the State Philharmonic. It has exhibition and concert halls. Here there were such coryphaeus as Ermolova, Shalyapin, Mayakovsky, Sobinov and others.

The place of the duel of M. Yu. Lermontov is today marked by a monument of the work of BM Mikeshin. I must say that in his project significant changes were made, by which the author remained dissatisfied.

Museums

On the street Bernardazzi brothers, near the entrance to the park "Flower Garden", is the museum of local lore Pyatigorsk. It was founded in 1905. Its exposition includes more than 100 thousand exhibits, which acquaint visitors with the culture, history and nature of this wonderful city since ancient times.

The collection of the museum has a skull and some fragments of the skeleton of the southern elephant, which lived on Earth more than a million years ago. Interest of visitors is the mask of Alexander the Great during the Roman Empire. In addition, there are rare collections of firearms and knives.

The Museum of Local History of Pyatigorsk can be proud of the unique collection of paintings by Russian and foreign artists of the 18-19th centuries.

The next item of our correspondence excursion around the city will be the museum "The First Steps of Electric Power Industry". He is in a small house near the building of a thermal power plant. Since 1997, he became a memorial, and a year later entered the association of clubs "UNESCO of Russia".

The house of the Versilins is part of the M. Yu. Lermontov Museum-Reserve. It is a cultural and historical monument of federal importance. The building of a typical urban provincial building of the early 19th century - one-storey, built of wood on a stone foundation, has an iron roof. The house was created in 1822. In seven years he was acquired by MI Versilin. It was here that on July 25, 1841, the great poet was summoned to a duel. On the facade of this house is a plaque.

Throughout the 19th century, the house was owned by the family of the Versilins. In 1920, it was nationalized. In 1945 the museum "Lermontov's Lodge" was created here. At the end of the forties, the literary department of the museum was opened in the house, which told about the life and work of the poet. In 1968 the exposition was renewed. It tells about the life of Lermontov in the Caucasus.

Chinese arbor

This name she received thanks to a bizarre architectural form. Previously, it was decorated with colored glass, because it was called "Color". Appeared in Pyatigorsk in 1902, but was destroyed. In 1974, IF Shakhovskaya, a well-known sculptor, created a new gazebo, which offers a magnificent view of the Mashuk, Elbrus and Beshtau mountains and the picturesque panorama of the city.

Lake Failure

The natural monument of Pyatigorsk is an unusual cave, which has a conical shape. At the bottom of it a fairly large karst lake splashes , filled with mineral water of bright blue color (because of its high content of hydrogen sulphide and hydrogen sulfide bacteria). Its length is fifteen meters, width - eleven. After the tunnel was opened in 1858 and was fifty-eight meters long, the healing water was used for bathing. In 1885, a lake and a tunnel in the grotto of the Cave were solemnly consecrated, and in the special niche of the cave an icon of the Mother of God was installed, which was later replaced with the icon of the healer Panteleimon.

Reviews of tourists

Visiting Pyatigorsk are satisfied with their trip. Their positive reviews are associated with the unusually beautiful nature of these places, the opportunity to see with their own eyes unique historical monuments.

A lot of kind words are received by employees of museums, who gravelly collect and carefully store invaluable exhibits connected with the history and culture of their native city. Many note the well-thought-out route of excursions and the professionalism of local guides.

People who come to Pyatigorsk for treatment leave both positive and negative feedback. The first are associated with the indisputably beneficial effects of healing waters on their bodies and a significant improvement in health.

Negative reviews are most often associated with an unreasonably high price for vouchers to a spa complex.