Yana Vinetskaya exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
In the north foothills of the Caucasus, is the the chain of the Black, or as local people call them, the Kabardian Mountains. A part of this chain, which passes down the Sunzhi River, is called the Sunzheni Mountains. Where the Terek crosses the Kabardian Chain, there is the other mountain chain – Nadterechny. The Natdetechny Chain has a brow – Staro-Yurtovskaya Mountain. Here, thermal springs are located in 20 km from Grozny. In the early 20th century there was a small village called Goryachevodskaya.
These springs didn’t encourage the building of a big and beautiful resort. However, they are interesting because they are the hottest not only in Russia, but in all Europe – the temperature goes up to 89 C. In the early 20th century guidebooks wrote about them with admiration: “People drink water boiled by nature, that’s why there are no epidemics connected with drinking fresh water (cholera, typhoid fever, and so on). And it is confirmed in practice: in the period of cholera epidemic there were no cases of local infection; and fruits and greens were sold enthusiastically.” Constant strong water pressure from the springs enables the building of a big hot pond where temperature was from 30 to 40 C. One could swim in the pond from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. without additional payment. Women and men swam separately.
The springs were full of hot water, and a stream where they flowed often got overflown. “Crossing the road, it bursts with strong pressure from a cleft between two stone blocks atop of the precipice and falls down as a loud waterfall. The waterfall is very beautiful,” Grigory Moskvich wrote about this miracle of nature. A special comfortable garden-house was constructed over the precipice with the wonderful view on the small Goryachevodskaya resort.
The climate of the place quickly became dry and hot, that is why the season of comfortable using springs was short – May and June, while July and August were too hot with strong winds from the East. The eastern wind starting from 1 p.m. and calming down only at night brought hotness. But if it turned into a real storm, cool air came to the village. In the beginning of the last century the village included 150 households. It had vineries and gardens. Mainly the military came to the springs. The Military Department built special buildings for officers and soldiers. There was a private medical center for other guests, it often worked for free. The village couldn’t offer special entertainments. Guests could take walks or ride a horse or hunt. Officers liked hunting very much.
