The history of the world-famous Kuyalnik resort began with this handwritten document that has survived to this day: “Statement. Odessa. June 9, 1833. I, the undersigned, retired Major General Prince Ivan Semenovich, son of Zhevakhov, agree to the proposal of the local authorities here and cede to the city, from my own land by the liman, an area of 6 desyatinas and 135 square sazhen, for the construction of bathhouses on this site. Zhevakhov.”
Further events unfolded as follows. On June 12, 1833, a letter was sent from the office of the Bessarabian Governor-General M.S. Vorontsov to the Odessa city governor A.I. Levshin, stating the need for the “construction of such bathhouses according to the specified plans and estimates, by хозяйственный means, as soon as possible.”
Soon A.I. Levshin received a report from the architect Koshelev: “By order of the Construction Committee, assigned to me by instruction of the 14th of this June under No. 2024 regarding the building of two bathhouses at the Kulnitsky liman, I immediately commenced the work. June 27, 1833. Koshelev.” And two months later Koshelev reported to the Odessa Construction Committee: “By order of the committee regarding the arrangement of two bathhouses at the Kuyalnik liman, all construction work has now been completed. Architect Koshelev. August 29, 1833.”
On July 26, 1833, the first notice was printed in the newspaper “Odessa Herald” about the creation of the first лечебница at the Kuyalnik liman. “Having become convinced of the healing properties of the waters of the Odessa Kuyalnik liman, the authorities issued an order to set up an establishment right by the shore, where those who wished could make use of liman baths and find all the conveniences they might need. This establishment, consisting of heated rooms for warm mud and sand baths and a tent for cold bathing, has now been completed and handed over to the supervision of Doctor Andrievsky.
Kuyalnik liman. Daily, ladies may use the bathing tent from 10 o’clock in the morning until 6 in the evening, while the remaining morning and evening time is allotted to men; sand and mud baths are taken from 10 until 2 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Memoirs have survived describing what the Kuyalnik “Infirmary of sand and mud baths” looked like. “One wall of the warm heated room (a wooden barrack) and half of the roof were glazed. In cauldrons over a hearth, liman water was heated for baths. In the sun, the mud was warmed to the required temperature; after heating, it was poured into wooden troughs in the ‘heated room.’ The treatment was just as simple. The patient was laid in mud up to the neck for an hour, and sometimes longer, until the patient began to feel unpleasant symptoms—using medical terms, on the verge of heatstroke. The patient was then immediately taken out of the mud and washed in a warmed bath with the liman brine.
Cold bathhouses were built above the water at a distance of 20 sazhen from the shore. The bathhouse was arranged as a tent on piles driven into the bottom. A small bridge from the shore was set up for access. Under these conditions, E.S. Andrievsky began to provide active, real help to sick people. He tried to use the summer season with maximum effect, organizing treatment for as many patients as possible, and observed recovery outcomes. Taking notes, he analyzed which diseases the liman was suitable for, and for which it could even be harmful.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, a good room rented for the entire season (from May 15 to September 1) cost at least 100 rubles. For half a season it was 50–60 rubles, and per month a room cost 40–50 rubles.
In addition, one had to take into account the prices of procedures, and they were also not small. For a first-class mud bath they charged 2 rubles, second class—1.5 rubles; for a first-class bath with brine—75 kopecks, second class—50 kopecks. For bathing in the city bathhouses, first class—15 kopecks per person per day. To this should be added meals and transportation if the patient arrived from the city every day. So treatment in those years was far from affordable for all segments of the population.
In this connection, in Odessa, which was famous for its traditions of charity, a project was proposed to organize assistance for indigent patients at the Kuyalnik liman. In the draft charter of the Society, published in 1896, mention was made in particular of the lack of premises for poor patients to live in. “Every year, masses of poor people are treated at the Kuyalnik liman, suffering extreme need, since lodgings here are generally exorbitantly expensive and there are no public dining rooms at all. Patients from the poorest class live in terrible overcrowding, often half-starving.” The paragraphs of the future society stated that its members would “arrange inexpensive lodging, dining rooms and tea rooms for the poor, providing them with free use of baths, supplying medicines, etc.”