Narzan gallery in Kislovodsk

A well with «acid water», where was tapped in the end of the 19 century the big-gest spring of narzan, may be quite rightly considered the main sight of Kislovodsk. As a matter of fact, only due to it the city of Kislovodsk appeared, which became one of the largest balneotherapeutic health resorts in Russia.

For a long time, when the Russian nobility had already got a habit of coming to Kislovodsk «to take wa-ters», there was only a wooden well and an awning in that place. However, by the end of the 19 century it was decided to construct a regular building and significantly improve the catchment of narzan springs, so that the water-drinkers could not only comfortably take healing waters but also walk there.

In 1848, when Mikhail Vorontsov was appointed the governor of the Caucasus, he invited the English architect Samuel Upton to build a spacious Narzan gallery. The gallery was built in the style of English «Gothic Romanticism», and for a long time it was called the «Vorontsov gallery». Some vacationers still use this name today.

The Narzan gallery has the shape of a key. The water (narzan) intake structure overhanged by a glass dome is in the center of the building, and the surrounding area is paved by marble. From it a long (135 me-ters) glazed gallery starts, with points for selling and drinking narzan. You can drink all three kinds of narzan there: common, dolomite and sulfate, both hot and cold.

The southern side of the Narzan gallery, designed in the English Gothic style, gives to the Resort park, which you can approach along the bank of the Olkhovka river. The northern side of the building, designed mostly in the Moorish style, gives to the Resort Boulevard. The Narzan gallery is in immediate vicinity to the October Baths.