Sights in Russian Caucasus
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Lermontov Duel Site
In a clearing on the forested western flank of Mt Mashuk is a monument marking the Lermontov duel site The actual duel site is unknown but is thought to be near the needle-point obelisk that even today is bedecked with flowers. To get here ride marshrutka 113a or bus 16 from the Upper Market to the ‘Mesto Duely’ (Duel Site) stop (5 minutes). From there walk three minutes to a fork in the road, bear left and continue for five minutes.
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Chaliapin Dacha Literary Museum
Chaliapin, the legendary Russian opera singer, lived in a palatial wood and stained-glass villa near the train station in 1917, which is now the Chaliapin Dacha Literary Museum. There are lots of photos of this bear of a man (he was 1.96m – 6ft 5in) in his various roles, plaster ceilings bursting with cherubs and fruit designs, and a lovely glaze-tiled chimney.
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Museum
Many Pyatigorsk attractions revolve around larger-than-life writer, poet, painter, cavalry soldier, society beau and duellist Mikhail Lermontov. Chief among these is this museum. Three cottages contain some original furniture, copies of Lermontov’s poems, sketches and 19th-century trinkets. Lermontov lived here during his final months.
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Yaroshenko Museum
The small Yaroshenko Museum houses the works of the incomparable late 19th-century Russian portraitist Nikolai Yaroshenko, a leading proponent of Russian realism. One room is dedicated to landscapes of the surrounding countryside. Yaroshenko’s lovingly cared-for tomb is just outside nearby St Nicholas Church.
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Aeolian Harp
Walk from Proval southwest down bul Gagarina to an obvious path on the left that leads through woods to a little domed pavilion, the Aeolian Harp, long a favourite lookout point. Early morning should reveal a magnificent view of Mt Elbrus. It was built in 1831 to replace a real harp plucked by a weather vane.
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Town History Museum
The newly renovated Town History Museum has a superbly presented and impressive collection. What shines is the space display with the Soyuz 9 capsule that returned to Earth in June 1970 after 18 days in orbit. On board were local lad, engineer Sevastyanov, and his pilot Nikoliev.
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Lermontov Museum
Lermontov's thatched cottage where he spent his last two months in 1841 is in the Lermontov Museum, a group of Lermontov-related buildings in a beautiful garden. The buildings still have some original furniture, copies of Lermontov's poems, sketches and a collection of watercolours of local scenes.
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Academic Gallery
The Academic Gallery is perched above the eastern terminus of pr Kirova. It was built in 1851 to house one of Pyatigorsk’s best-known springs – No 16 (currently closed). It was here that Lermontov’s antihero, Pechorin, first set eyes on Princess Mary.
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Arboretum
Sochi’s lovely arboretum, with more than 1500 species of trees and shrubs, including numerous species of palm, makes for a relaxing wander. Pay at the ticket office and then take the cable car to the top and walk back down.
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Drinking Gallery
You can take the waters from endlessly gushing taps. The taste is flat and yucky – diluted bad eggs come to mind. This is the sulphur content that’s supposedly good for stomach complaints, probably because it kills off anything in your stomach.
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Fortress Museum
The Fortress Museum is within the remaining walls of Kislovodsk, the 1803 fort. The museum traces the city’s history. Pushkin, Tolstoy and Lermontov were visitors, and the late dissident writer Solzhenitsyn was born here.
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Spa Research Institute
The striking classical-style Spa Research Institute, built in 1828 and rebuilt in 1955, was once Restoratsiya, the town’s first hotel and scene of balls described in Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time.
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Park
This park near the reserve office in Teberda has pens with deer, foxes and other local fauna, as well as a small nature museum. Admission is covered by the reserve entrance fee (R50).
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Aquarium
Inside Park Rivera there's an aquarium plus a tacky range of art and craft shops, pony rides and an avenue of magnolias with trees planted by cosmonauts, including one planted by an Afghani.
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Mayak
For a self-contained aqua park, Mayak has most things you could want - pools, water slides, sunbaking couches and cafés and bars for energy top-ups after all that hard enjoyment.
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Lermontov Gallery
Prime attraction is the striking light-blue and beautifully proportioned Lermontov Gallery, built in 1901 in cast iron with stained-glass windows, now a concert hall.
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Regional Museum
Pyatigorsk’s Regional Museum is worth a visit for the photos of Pyatigorsk from the 19th and early 20th centuries, when pr Kirova was called pr Tsarskaya.
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Statue of Catherine the Great
At the foot of Krasnaya ul an elaborate new statue of Catherine the Great with lute-strumming Cossacks and Potemkin at her heel, roosts in an attractive park.
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Lermontovskaya Skala
Lermontovskaya Skala is where the climactic duel in A Hero of Our Time was set. With a good map you can find all sorts of pretty walks around here.
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Art Museum
The Art Museum resides in a classical building that’s an artwork in itself. There are visiting exhibitions and an expansive permanent collection.
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University
Adjacent to the drinking gallery is the university with some expressive gargoyles and bas-reliefs on its upper facade.
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Kabardino-Balkaria National Museum
The Kabardino-Balkaria National Museum has a good 3-D topographical map of the mountains and displays covering the history of the area.
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Luna Park
Being a family holiday resort there's a lot of fun places for children. Another summertime place for young children with rides and jumping castles.
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Art Museum
The Art Museum includes a portrait of Catherine the Great apparently concealing a hot-air balloon under her huge dress.
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Circus
Being a family holiday resort there's a lot of fun places for children. Sochi's circus presents Russian and international performances.
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