Mashuk

The name of the mountain is associated with the mountain legend of the beautiful girl Mashuko, crying about the groom Tau, who was killed by old Elbrus.

There is an explanation of the origin of the name from Kabardian Mashuko, where “ mash ” is millet and “ ko ” is the valley, that is, the valley where the millet was sown. Kabardinians now have a common surname - the Mashukovs.

In some sources, the mountain is described under the name Mashuha ^[1] .

In Persian, the word pers. معشوقه "mashuke" means "lover" or "lover".

Formed by a gradual uplift or tectonic extrusion through the thickness of sedimentary viscous, cooling lava. Volcanic bodies are still cooling in our time. It has the shape of a truncated cone with a diameter of 4 km at the foot. The flattened peak is composed of Upper Cretaceous limestones and marls , and the slopes are composed of Paleogene clayey rocks, marls, and less commonly sandstones . At depths of 1300-1400 m, the body of the Beshtownites was discovered by boreholes, the introduction of which led to the formation of a dome and an annular rupture surrounding the mountain. Travertines are widespread in the ring fault, composing on the southern, eastern, and northern slopes three large arched bodies up to 500 meters wide and up to 70 m thick, forming the picturesque Hot Mountain , Inner Range and Perkalsky Rocks (in the north), with absolute heights of 610-650 m. The old houses of Pyatigorsk were built from them. In travertines, you can find petrified leaves and branches of trees that grew thousands of years ago. In the lower layers of travertines, bones of the southern , forest, and trogonterium elephants were found, and in the higher layers, bison , bison, and deer .

Satellite mountains, spurs and slopes

Slopes of the Mikhailovsky spur - exit from the northeast side (from the Inner Range ) ^[2] from the main cone of Mashuk; Mikhailovsky slopes run parallel and higher (north) of the Goryachaya mountain, the western direction (from east to west) is replaced by a small turn to the north-west, resembling a spiral-arc coil. Both of these spurs form a narrow valley-gorge (hollow), which used to be called Goryachevodskaya. The valley in the first half of the 19th century, before the construction of the Pushkin (Sabaneev) baths, was populated. On the site of the Sabaneev baths was the house of E. A. Hastatova (sister of Lermontov ’s grandmother), where in 1825 M. Lermontov (a ten-year-old boy) came to the Hot Waters with his grandmother. Emanuelevsky Park with the Mikhailovsky Gallery (with Mikhailovsky sources ) is located on Mikhailovskaya Mountain; there is the Aeolian hill (614 m), on which the Aeolian harp rises, and a little lower under it is the Lermontov’s grotto . The upper parts of the Goryachevodsky and Mikhailovsky spurs are, as it were, connected by an architectural ensemble - the Academic Gallery . The Lermontov’s House Museum is located on the southern slope of St. Michael’s Mountain (Lermontov St.).

Mount Goryachaya (557.9 m) - this spur of the southern slope of Mount Mashuk stretches from the People's Baths ^[3] , arches in a southwest direction from east to west, along the southern border of Tsvetnik Park , with its protrusion extends almost to the center of the city. Here, below, at its top, the sculpture “Eagle” and the Chinese arbor (viewing platform) rise. It is also clearly visible if you go down the tram to Goryachevodsk . The mountain is composed of travertines formed during crystallization of minerals in the waters flowing [from sources] at the foot of Mashuk. A layer of travertines is clearly visible at the Singing Fountain near the Flower Garden (under the rank of Goryachiy Klyuch, near the registry office). Hot - the ancestor of both the Pyatigorsk resort and the city . The mountain is also interesting for its caves of karst origin, there are especially many of them on the southern slope (again, visible from the tram , from the side of Podkumka ).

Shaved Hill (see Failure below) and Perkalsky rocks (see above)

Satellite mountains

The spur "Mount Goryachaya", as well as the Mikhailovsky spur, and Mount Kazachka are located directly at the foot of Mashuk, in its upper zone. Dubrovka (690 m), Post (555 m) and Picket (565.3 m) - respectively, a little at a distance, in the lower zone (in the lower city).

Mount Kazachka (633 m) is located between the northern side of the Mikhailovsky slope and the southwestern slope of Mount Mashuk. Around Mount Kazachki are: the Memorial of Military Glory (the old cemetery) , the Lazarevskaya church , the pump room of sources No. 19, 35 , the resort health center, the Leninsky Rocks sanatorium, near the lower station of the Cableway, just above, on the slopes of Mashuk - “The Gate of the Sun” " (Viewport).

All other mountains, hills, spurs, slopes, rocks within Pyatigorsk are mentioned little in literature and guides, unfamiliar to inhabitants and mountains (in fact) are not considered. Therefore, most often the conversation about the mountains is about these “five mountains”.

Mashuk himself is a satellite mountain of the five-headed Beshtau , which in turn also has four satellites (see Mountains of Pyatigorye ).

On the southern (southeastern) slope of the mountain is the famous Pyatigorsk Dip - a deep natural cave-well with an underground lake (of karst-tectonic origin; also known as Karst cave "Big Dip" ^[4] ), a kind of creation of nature that appeared during the formation of Mount Mashuk as a result of the impact of groundwater and subsoil water on calcareous rocks. It has a [total] depth of 42 m and a diameter of up to 15 m. Its bottom part is occupied by a pool of warm (26–42 ° C) mineral hydrogen sulfide water with an area of ​​190 m² and a depth of about 8 m.
The failure was first examined in 1793 by Academician P.S. Pallas (the first attempts to study the lake were made as early as 1773 by Guldenstedt ). In 1837, a wooden hanging platform with a special mechanism for descending to the lake in a specially equipped basket was arranged above the funnel-well. Those who wanted to bathe in the lake in a floating bath , and on the platform on a wooden platform, young people were dancing. Batalin (in the middle of the 19th century) first scientifically examined the underground lake Proval, going down to a depth of 26 m. Interest in using the lake again arose, in 1858, at the expense of the Moscow merchant P. A. Lazarik, a horizontal tunnel was laid for it, about 58 m long, and the road from the Mikhailovsky Gallery was drawn to it ^[5] .
The level and composition of the lake's water fluctuate in accordance with a change in the regime of underground mineral waters of the Kavminvodsk hydrological basin. According to observations dating back to 1830, they are affected by a change in the seasons, the amount of precipitation, earthquakes, and human activities. Therefore, Proval Lake is used as an important natural indicator of the state of underground mineral waters in the KavMinVod resorts. The water in it has healing properties, and until 1859 (when the tunnel was broken) they descended into it for bathing and bathing on a rope in a special basket. Bathing [inner] was stopped only in 1880. In the story of Princess Yu. Lermontov “Princess Mary” about the failure, it says that “according to the local scientists, this failure is nothing but a quenched crater.”

The story, widely known from the novel by I. Ilf and E. Petrov “The Twelve Chairs ”, is associated with Failure.

Near the Dip, directly above it, at the top of the well is the Brittany Hill (690 m). Its appearance resembles an earthen rampart ( parapet ), as if poured from a supposedly artificially dug cave (Dip) . The Shaved Hill along with the Failure is actually located on the Mikhailovsky Slope. Also to Route passes route No. 3 of the path [on Blvd. Gagarin, Mashukogorsky ring highway] with a length of about 3 km ^[6] .

Opened on August 24, 1971 ^[7] .

In 1.5-2 minutes, an all-metal wagon with organic glass windows covers a distance of 964 meters to the top station at the top of the mountain (exceeding 369 m ^[8] ).

Concerns of environmentalists and citizens

Mount Mashuk is a monument of nature and archeology of federal significance, its slopes are assigned to the first and second mountain sanitary zones, under them there is the formation and movement of mineral water. Environmentalists primarily pay attention to the following dangerous consequences in their opinion ^[9] :

• Mountain development can harm the resort’s underground mineral springs.
• Plants, animals and birds, including rare ones listed in the Red Book, may die.
• The development will forever change the landscape and appearance of the mountain.
• The emergence of a complex of cottages will not have a positive effect on the transport problem.
• Activation of exogenous geological processes is possible.
• The legitimacy of the land sale transaction is doubtful.

Mount Mashuk was recognized as a natural monument in 1961, in 1972 - as a state reserve, and in 2004 the Ministry of Culture of the Stavropol Territory gave it the status of a state historical and cultural reserve.

Land sale

In 2005, a section of a walnut grove on the western slope of Mount Mashuk measuring 37.5 hectares, located in the 1st and 2nd conservation zones, was excluded from the borders of a nature monument of regional significance and transferred from the category of forest land to non-forest, and then privatized by LLC "Kavminekotsentr" on the basis of the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Stavropol Territory. The land went to the buyer for 346 thousand 890 rubles, that is, at a price of about 90 rubles per hundred square meters. Territory from the street Kuchury to Polyana was subsequently resold and divided into small sections, which began to be sold in parts. In 2009, the "General Plan for the Development of Pyatigorsk until 2030" was published, developed by ZAO Kurortproekt in Pyatigorsk ^[10] , according to which all the land sold was planned for " ... the construction of high-tech sanatorium-resort complexes with a limited number of floors of 3-5 floors on 2.4 thousand vacationers . " It is worth noting that this master plan was contrary to the development concept developed in the Soviet years, and, in fact, legitimized all decisions by the city administration on the sale and reprofiling of protected areas, made without environmental impact assessment and comprehensive studies for possible consequences for the resort from changes in anthropogenic load and construction in the zone of formation of mineral springs.

The beginning of development

The first attempt to start the development of the site was made in 2010, when the city administration was negotiating with Chinese investors about the construction of the Sana complex, but the project stalled. The second attempt to start construction on another part of the territory with an area of ​​5.29 hectares was made in April 2011, when, on the initiative of the developer, a project for the development of the territory in the area of ​​ul. Kuchury ^{[11] [12]} . By August, geodetic measurements and marking of the land began, and already in September, deforestation began. By November 2011, 162 trees and 83 shrubs were cut down, and the area is fenced with concrete blocks ^[13] .

Society reaction

At the end of September 2011, public men and ecologists of Pyatigorsk demanded to stop any work on Mashuk, collecting more than 100 signatures under an appeal to the head of the city ^[14] . With the initiative of the Solar Patrol initiative group, an action “Stop cutting Mashuk!” In defense of a natural monument has started on social networks. At the first stage, collective formal requests were initiated through the Democrat system to various departments. Appeals to the prosecutor's office and supervisory authorities were supported by more than 600 people. Also, deputy requests were formed ^[15] . The problem was supported by other environmental organizations in Stavropol.

The next step of the activists was a rally in front of the administration building on November 27, 2011. A notification about the rally was submitted to the Pyatigorsk administration on November 15 within the statutory period, but the city administration, by violating the law and, despite the court’s decision in favor of civil activists, tried to obstruct it. carrying out. Nevertheless, on November 27, 2011, according to various estimates, from 200 to 500 people gathered in front of the city administration, since the police, on the instructions of the administration, prevented the rally from being held, the rally took place in the form of a meeting of citizens ^{[16] [17]} . It began collecting signatures in defense of Mashuk. The action did not go unnoticed by television channels and the press ^[18] .

After the rally, the collection of signatures was continued. Activists and ecologists of Pyatigorsk took to the streets every week, coordinating actions in social networks. In just a month, more than 4,500 signatures of Pyatigorsk residents and guests of the resort were collected, under an appeal to Medvedev , Putin and Khloponin ^{[19] [20] [21]} .

Government response

In January 2012, the Stavropol Environmental Prosecutor's Office responded to public concerns ^{[22] [23]} and found violations in the activities of the developer. Based on the results of its consideration of the case, 2 employees of Kavzhilstroy LLC were brought to disciplinary action. The prosecutor’s office also ordered the developer “Kavzhilstroy” to pay 350 750 rubles for the cost of the cut down trees, and the municipal unitary enterprise of Pyatigorsk “Gorzelenstroy” to restore green spaces in the city of Pyatigorsk ^{[24] [25] [26]} .

In February 2012, the response to the appeal to the envoy Khloponin, the request was redirected to higher authorities: the Prosecutor General's Office for the North Caucasus Federal District and Rosprirodnadzor for the North Caucasus Federal District . A response was also received from the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, informing that the appeal was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office for investigation.

On February 7, the head of the city, Lev Travnev, talked with the townspeople in a straight line. Questions were received by telephone, e-mail and regular mail, and a number of questions touched the felling of the western slope of Mashuk ^[27] .

On February 20, the Pyatigorsk prosecutor’s office protested the construction of a boarding house on Mount Mashuk. According to the supervisory authority, the administration of Pyatigorsk violated the requirements of the Town Planning Code of Russia - it issued LLC Kavzhilstroy permission to build a boarding house in the area of ​​Kuchury Street in the absence of a positive conclusion from the state environmental review, which, as noted, has not yet been completed ^[28] .

In the past, about 40 sources of mineral water self-poured in Mashuk’s travertine ring, near which the famous Lermontov, Pirogov, Pushkin, Ermolov, People’s and Thermal Baths, Academic and Mikhailovsky drinking galleries were built. Currently, healing waters are taken from wells and adits. They are divided into four main balneological types:

1. carbonic, warm, hot and cold (Pyatigorsk narzans), which are used for drinking;
2. carbon dioxide- hydrogen sulfide with a complex ionic composition, with a temperature of 42–48 ° С (the second Pyatigorsk type), are used for baths, less often for drinking;
3. radon waters with a radon concentration of up to 274 n Ci / l, are used for baths;
4. hydrochloric-alkaline carbon dioxide and carbon-hydrogen sulfide ( Essentuki type) are used for drinking treatment.
   In addition, nitrogen-carbonic and methane waters with a high content of iodine and bromine and slightly carbonic sodium chloride water of the Arzni type are used to a limited extent.

Most of the slopes are occupied by natural ash - hornbeam surabrava , which is part of the Mashuksky forest park (merges with the Beshtaugorsky forest park ). Glades are covered with rich meadow vegetation, with changing phytocenoses from the meadow-like steppe to subalpine meadows. The flora contains more than 80 species of rare and endangered plants, of which 25 were first described on Mashuk and are standard. Extremely rare include: dwarf spindlewort, Mashuk and Pyatigorsk hawks, Pushkinia scaphoid , bract poppy , narrow-leaved snowdrop , as well as a number of xerophytes on limestone slopes - Crimean asphodeline , rocky euphorbia , yellow- headed lamira, dangling symphyander . 29 plant species are listed in the Red Books of Russia and the Stavropol Territory.

On the northern slope of 42 hectares is Perkalsky dendrological nursery (1830s, 1879) with the Ecological and Botanical Station of the Botanical Institute named after V. L. Komarova - 11.5 ha. A unique botanical collection has been collected on their territory, consisting of ( 550 ) more than 800 species of shrubs and trees and about 700 herbaceous plants; flora is represented not only in the CMS and the North Caucasus , but also in different parts of the world - Transcaucasia , Europe, Central and Central Asia, the Far East and North America. These include about 100 species of medicinal and 120 species of rare and endangered plants.

Near the nursery is Komsomolskaya Polyana (northeastern slope), on the western slope of Mashuk there is Orehovaya Roscha and Polyana Pesen. The arboretum together with the Mashuksky forest park are natural monuments (see Specially Protected Natural Territories of Russia ).

On Mashuk there are numerous monuments of archeology related to the Neolithic , IV millennium BC. e., Koban and Scythian cultures of the VIII-V centuries. BC e., the beginning of our era and the Middle Ages. There are especially many cultural layers on travertine ledges and terraces on the Goryachaya Gora, Perkalsky Rocks, Komsomolskaya Polyana, in the area of ​​a meat processing plant (plateau above Konstantinovsky highway).

On the Mashuk southeastern slope, which gradually turns into a plateau, these mounds rise on the Konstantinovsky plateau (a good view is from the Mineralnye Vody – Nalchik ring road, the Caucasus Highway M29 ). Dozens of centuries ago, through the Konstantinovsky plateau ran one of the busy roads along which nomadic tribes passed - Scythians , Polovtsy , Khazars . In those mounds that were investigated in the second half of the 19th century and in our time (late XX - early XXI centuries), ancient burials, weapons, household and religious items were discovered. Finds made on the Konstantinovsky plateau are stored in the Pyatigorsk Local History Museum and in the museums of the Stavropol Territory, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Nearby on the eastern slope along the Mashukogorsk ring road (it is a ring path - route number 1 "around Mashuk" [about 10 km ^[6] ]: Gagarina Blvd - Proval - Komsomolskaya Polyana - Perkalsky Arboretum - to the site of the Lermontov duel and glade Songs) beyond the Failure, above these Mounds is the Obelisk on the Mass grave of the victims of Nazi occupation .

There are many historical and cultural monuments on the mountain, of which the Lermontov’s places are the real national shrine: “Lermontov’s House” (in the city building, in the upper city), the place of the duel (the monument at the place of death - on the northwestern slope) and the initial burial ( Voinsky Memorial cemetery ), a monument to the poet (city square [Lermontovsky (?)] Between October and Krasnoarmeyskaya streets), the grotto of Lermontov, Eolov harp.

At the top of the mountain, from the observation deck a few tens of meters down the southern slope [by testament - overlooking Elbrus ], there is an obelisk monument at the burial place of the military topographer A.V. Pastukhov .

By the value and value of natural and historical-cultural objects, Mount Mashuk meets the criteria of world heritage .

Attractions

One of the attractions of Pyatigorsk is a rock portrait of V.I. Lenin . Painted in oil by artist N.K. Shuklin in 1925 on one of the rocks of the southwestern slope of Mount Mashuk ^[29] . The portrait was dedicated to the first gathering of female goryanka and Terek Cossacks, which took place in Pyatigorsk. In 1960, this portrait was restored by the author. The place where the portrait is depicted is called Lenin Rocks. Nearby is the sanatorium of the same name ^[30] .

The mountain is a regional complex (landscape, geological and geomorphological) natural monument - a complex object of natural, historical and cultural heritage, combined with monuments of archeology, architecture, as well as Lermont sites (Resolution of the Bureau of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU and the Executive Committee of the Regional Council of Workers' Deputies dated September 15, 2015 .1961, No. 676 "On measures to protect nature in the region").

A cableway with a length of 964 meters leads to the top; at the very top there is a hundred and twelve- meter television and radio broadcasting tower with a radio relay node (with base stations of mobile operators; the tower is also a topographic landmark, a reference point of the geodetic network ) and an observation deck.
The length of the walking route to Mount Mashuk (one way, to the top) is about 4 kilometers. There are several paths of "savages": from Mount Kazachka up, or from the medical town (City Hospital No. 1) and the Student Town (Kuchury St.) passing Walnut Grove, through the "Gate of the Sun" and directly along the western slope; two beaten paths from the Mass grave along the eastern gentle slope; from the dip on the southeast slope - the shortest, but also the steepest climb. It is also possible to climb the old wheeled road, which runs along the northern side of the mountain (from Komsomolskaya Polyana, camp "Rainbow"). Route Terrenkura number 2: st. Lermontov - Gagarin Boulevard - in front of the Upper Radon Baths up to the right - “Gate of the Sun” and the Forester’s House - and further along the serpentine road - we go up to the top of Mashuk, from where an amazing panorama of Pyatigorye opens - the route is about 7 km long ^[6] .
An automobile serpentine road with a length of up to 10 km ^[31] is a popular wedding route leading to the top of the mountain. Entrance to the Mashukogorsky ring highway (on Gagarin Boulevard) from the center - from Lermontov, Pastukhov streets, etc. [from the south-west] and to the Upper Radon Clinic {along the above terrain path}, you can also go from the meat factory - the street Factory [southeast], Teplosernaya [from the south past the People's Baths] and again to the hospital, or from Kalinin Avenue at the northern entrance to the city - Arch (pylons) by the road to the place of the duel [from the north-west], bypassing the place of the duel Lermontov. All of them lead to the "Gate of the Sun" and to the treasured peak.

A 3.5-kilometer mountain bike trail runs along Mashuk. Every year there are Russian championships in freeride (free descent), downhill ( downhill ) and biker cross ^[32] .

• The song "conjures golden autumn" performed by Gennady Belov . Words by A. Trilisov , music by Y. Turnyansky .

Events

• North Caucasian Youth Forum "Mashuk" ^[33]

Industrial enterprises

• Sewing factory "Mashuk" (Pyatigorsk)

Medical institutions, hotels, travel agencies

• Sanatorium "Mashuk" (Pyatigorsk) ^[34] ;
• Travel company "Mashuk" (Pyatigorsk) ^[35]
• Hotel "Lost Paradise at Mashuk" ^[36]

mass media

• TV company Mashuk-TV

Sports teams

• Pyatigorsk football club " Mashuk-KMV " (in 1968-1993, 1998-2002 was called "Mashuk");
• Women's basketball team "Mashuk" ^{[37] [38]}

•  

  View of the peak of Mashuk from Mount Goryachaya

•  

  View of Pyatigorsk from Goryachaya Mountain

•  

  At the entrance to Failure

•  

  Mashuk, graffiti on a stone wall

•  

  Forest paths near the arbor of Aeolian harp

•  

  On the way to failure

•  

  On top of Mashuk, a view of the surroundings

•  

  View from the top of Mashuk at the monument to A. V. Pastukhov and the city

•  

  Mount Mashuk, monument to A.V. Pastukhov

•  

  The trailer arrives at the upper station of the cable car

•  

  Observation deck on top of Mashuk

• Mashuha // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• MPRiOOOS SK: Mount Mashuk
• Mount Mashuk. "Entertaining local history." Author: V. Gnilovskoy, 1974
• Gaazov V. L. "Traveling along the necklace of the North Caucasus." - Stavropol, 2004
• Gaazov V. L. "Paths of the Pyatigorsk"
• Monument to Ostap Bender in Pyatigorsk at the Proval Lake on Mount Mashuk (Neopr.) (Inaccessible link - history ) .
• Lake Failure on Mount Mashuk (neopr.) (Inaccessible link - history ) . .