Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск;
Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in
Stavropol Krai,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
located on the
Podkumok River, about from the town of
Mineralnye Vody
Mineralnye Vody (Min-Vody) ( rus, Минеральные Воды (Мин-Воды), p=mʲɪnʲɪˈralʲnɨjə ˈvodɨ, mʲɪn ˈvodɨ; lit. ''mineral waters'') is a town in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located along the Kuma River and the main rail li ...
where there is an international airport and about from
Kislovodsk. Since January 19, 2010, it has been the
administrative center
An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located.
In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...
of the
North Caucasian Federal District
North Caucasian Federal District (russian: Се́веро-Кавка́зский федера́льный о́круг, ''Severo-Kavkazsky federalny okrug'') is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It is located in extreme southern Ru ...
of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. Population:
Overview
The name is derived from the fused Russian words "" (''five mountains'') and the city is so called because of the five peaks of the
Beshtau (which also means ''five mountains'' in
Turkic) of the
Caucasian mountain range overlooking the city. It was founded in 1780,
and has been a health spa with
mineral springs since 1803. Pyatigorsk is one of the oldest spa resorts in Russia. The health resort provides unique medical resources, and its underground wealth supplies 50 different mineral springs, medical mud taken from Lake Tambukan located from Pyatigorsk, and the mild climate of the area. It is one of 116 historical towns of the Russian Federation.
Russian poet
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
was shot by Nikolai Martynov in a
duel at Pyatigorsk on July 27, 1841. There is a museum in the city devoted to his memory. The Zionist activist
Joseph Trumpeldor was born in Pyatigorsk.
History
The writings of the 14th-century Arabian traveler
Ibn Battuta included the earliest known mention of the mineral springs.
Peter the Great (reigned 1682-1725) fostered the earliest scientific study of them, but the information collected on his expedition has not survived. Interest revived at the end of the 18th century with the foundation of the first Russian settlement (Konstantinogorskaya fortress), erected at Mt. Mashuk in 1780.
The value of the Caucasian mineral waters led to the construction of a resort in 1803, and studies of their medical properties began thereafter: on April 24,
Alexander I signed a decree which made the mineral waters state property. Many settlements developed near the springs: first Goryachevodsk (now part of Pyatigorsk) at the bottom of Mt. Mashuk, then
Kislovodsk,
Yessentuki, and
Zheleznovodsk. During the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, the settlement was the administrative capital of the
Pyatigorsky Otdel of the
Terek Oblast
The Terek Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, roughly corresponding to the central part of Russia's North Caucasian Federal District. Тhe ''оblast'' was created out of the former territories of t ...
.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the German
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
temporarily occupied Pyatigorsk. The
Einsatzkommando 12 of
Einsatzgruppe
(, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imple ...
D had its headquarters in Pyatigorsk in 1942. The German occupation resulted in the killing of many Jewish inhabitants of the region.
Geography
The city is situated on a small plateau, above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
, at the foot of
Beshtau,
Mashuk, and three other outliers of the
Caucasus Mountains, which protect it on the north. The snow-covered summits of
Mount Elbrus are visible to the south.
Climate
The climate of Pyatigorsk falls within
humid continental
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(Dfb) classification under the
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system and is characterized by absence of sharp fluctuations of annual and daily temperatures. Summers are warm with the average July temperature of while winters, lasting two to three months, are cold, with the average January temperature of . Spring is cool, with a sharp transition by the summer, and a warm, dry, and long fall. There are an average of ninety-eight sunny days in a year.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the
framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with two
urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...
s (
Goryachevodsky and
Svobody) and five
rural localities, incorporated as the
city of krai significance of Pyatigorsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts.
[Resolution #63-p] As a
municipal division, the city of krai significance of Pyatigorsk is incorporated as Pyatigorsk Urban Okrug.
[Law #88-kz]
Economy
The industry of Pyatigorsk is primarily oriented towards service of the health resort. There is also food industry (a meat-processing plant, a
winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...
, a
dairy, a
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...
, a
confectionery), textiles (
clothing
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
, shoe plant, carpet factories), machine industry and metal working (PО ''Pyatigorskselmash'' specializes in machines and equipment for
aviculture
Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds, especially of wild birds in captivity.
Types
There are various reasons that people get involved in aviculture. Some people breed birds to preserve a species. Some people breed parrots ...
; a special automobile equipment works, an electromechanical plant, etc.);
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
, a chemical factory and a ceramics factory who specialize in porcelain and ceramic gifts such as
samovars, figurines, vases, and decorative ceramic wall hanging panels.
In 1991, the Pyatigorsk health resort had ten
sanatoria, four boarding houses and five sanatoria-preventoria. The number of people who stayed at the health resort within a year totalled about 170,000.
Points of interest
The state memorial estate of Mikhail Lermontov was founded in 1973. It unites all of the Lermontov memorial places in the region: the place where he fought his duel and was killed, a
necropolis, Lermontov's small house,
Verzilin's houses, the house of
Alexander Alyabyev
Alexander Aleksandrovich Alyabyev (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Аля́бьев; ), also rendered as Alabiev or Alabieff, was a Russian composer known as one of the fathers of the Russian art song. He wrote seven ...
, the Lermontov square, and monument.
The
Aeolian harp is a small stone pavilion in the
classical style
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...
, constructed by the
brothers Bernardacci in 1828.
Diana's grotto was built in 1830, in honor of the first ascent of
Mount Elbrus.
Pyatigorsk is very well known in the Caucasus region for its excellent restaurants and nightlife, architecture, as well as for its extremely large marketplace. A major thoroughfare is known to locals as "Broadway", which runs through the center of the city, and on which most of the best restaurants, nightclubs, and attractions are located. Broadway is also a popular spot for
people watching
People-watching or crowd watching is the act of observing people and their interactions as a subconscious doing. It involves picking up on idiosyncrasies to try to interpret or guess at another person's story, interactions, and relationships with ...
. The influence of the Caucasus region is felt here most noticeably in the music and cuisine, which incorporate aspects of many former Soviet republics such as Armenia.
Pyatigorsk features prominently in
Jonathan Littell's 2009 novel,
''The Kindly Ones''.
Honors
Asteroid 2192 Pyatigoriya discovered in 1972 by
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
astronomer
Tamara Smirnova
Tamara Mikhaylovna Smirnova (russian: Тама́ра Миха́йловна Смирно́ва; 1935–2001) was a Soviet/Russian astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets.
Career
From 1966 to 1988, Smirnova was a staff member of t ...
is named after the city.
Twin towns – sister cities
Pyatigorsk is
twinned with:
*
Dilijan, Armenia
*
Hévíz
Hévíz is a spa town in Zala County, Hungary, about from Keszthely.
Description of the lake
The town is located near Lake Hévíz, the world’s second-largest thermal lake, but biologically the biggest active natural lake. Its temperatur ...
, Hungary
*
Kochi
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
, India
*
Panagyurishte
Panagyurishte ( bg, Панагюрище, also transliterated ''Panagjurište'', ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of P ...
, Bulgaria
*
Schwerte, Germany
*
Trikala
Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...
, Greece
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
Official website of PyatigorskWeather in PyatigorskPyatigorsk city website*
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
Scraping by in a Russian resort
{{Use mdy dates, date=March 2011
Cities and towns in Stavropol Krai
Populated places established in 1780
Spa towns in Russia
Terek Oblast
North Caucasian Federal District