Pyatigorsk is a Russian spa town in the Stavropol region. The city’s name refers to the five-peaked mountain Beshtau north of Pyatigorsk, which precisely means five mountains. The story goes back to the time of Peter the Great, when as tsar he initiated investigations into the mineral water for which the region was and is known. However, it took until 1780 for the Russians to build the fort Konstantinogorskaya, which later developed into Pyatigorsk; among other things by knowing that soldiers settled in the area with the hot springs after their service.

The mineral water also meant that the city’s first spa was opened in 1803, and it was the starting point for Pyatigorsk’s development into a well-visited spa town, where people from many countries settled down with the region’s many possibilities.

It was not until 1830 that the city was named Pyatigorsk, and seven years later a city plan was approved by the Tsar. At this time, the town had approximately 1,200 inhabitants, and in 1837 Tsar Nicholas I was passing through the region and Pyatigorsk. He decided to donate a sum of money annually to develop the city. Throughout the 19th century, Pyatigorsk’s holiday industry developed, and the city attracted many wealthy people. In 1894, the railway opened here, and this naturally made the city more accessible to visitors. In the early 1900s, the city’s trams started running, and culture also flourished in the city.

Pyatigorsk became part of the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and the city temporarily became the regional administrative center of the North Caucasus. During World War II, Pyatigorsk was occupied by German troops in August 1942, and it took until January 1943 before the Red Army liberated the city. After the occupation, parts of Pyatigorsk had to be rebuilt. The trams, for example, only started running in the city’s streets again in November 1943. Since the 1950s, Pyatigorsk has been continuously developed, and the population continued to increase. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 20,000 citizens in the city, and today that number has increased to over 140,000.

Today you can take many lovely walks in Pyatigorsk, and you can start at Ploshad Lenina, which is the central square of the city. In the square, during the season, you can experience the city’s popular fountain, which continuously gives a magnificent show of color and music. East of the fountain, you can go up the stairs to the city’s statue of the head of state Lenin. The statue was erected in 1971, and if you continue, you come to the square’s eternal flame, and from this area there is a nice view. In the western part of the square, you can see Pyatigorsk’s town hall in the so-called white house.

There are several museums in Pyatigorsk, and at the eastern end of Ploshad Lenina you can visit the Lermontov Museum. Lermontov was a Russian writer, poet and painter who died in a duel in Pyatigorsk in 1841. The museum was founded in 1912 in the house where Lermontov lived in the last months of his life. Today, the house is furnished as it was in Lermontov’s time, and around the house Lermentov’s life and works are depicted in other museum buildings.

A little to the north of the museum there is a monument to Lermontov at the place where the fatal duel took place. In this area, you can also visit the Pyatigorsk Nekropolis cemetery, which is the city’s oldest. This is where Lermontov was originally buried. The cemetery is atmospheric, and you can see the Lazarevskaja church from the beginning of the 20th century.

One should also take a walk along the Kirova Prospekt street, which stretches from the Pyatigorsk railway station in the west through the entire city to the east. Along the street there are shops and cafes, and there are also several sights along the way. Among other things, you can see the Cathedral of the Saviour, which was built 1847-1869, and which was the city’s cathedral until 1927.

Here the church was closed, and in 1936 the cathedral was blown up by the Soviet government. The rebuilt cathedral was consecrated in 2012. From the church, you can take a walk in the Tolstoy and Lermontov parks, and if you continue east along Kirova Prospekt, you will come to Pyatigorsk’s beautiful flower park. At the flower park you can see the Lermontov Gallery from 1901, which was built in spa style for Pyatigorsk’s many tourists as a stage, restaurant etc. behind the gallery are the Lermontov Baths from 1825-1831, which are the city’s oldest preserved bath building.

Pyatigorsk is famous as a spa town with its mineral water, and there is also a beautiful and mountainous nature around the city. At the center you can see and visit the 993-meter-high mountain Masjuk, and from the city you can take a cable car ride to the top of the mountain. All the way up the view gets better and better, and from the top you can enjoy a panoramic view of Pyatigorsk and the Caucasus Mountains with Europe’s highest mountain, Elbrus, located south of the city. You can also look north to the mountain Beshtau, which in its time gave Pyatigorsk its name. The cable car is a very nice trip, but you can also choose to go up the mountain to the view and to the many signs at the top that show near and far destinations in the world.