Lake Tambukan
lake in Russia
Tambukan Lake (Russian: Тамбукан) is a lake with bitter-salt water on Northern Caucasus in Stavropol Krai (about 33% surface) and the Kabardino-Balkar Republic (about 66% surface) of Russia, located eight kilometers from Pyatigorsk. The lake's surface area is 1.87 square kilometers, and its depth ranges between 1.5 and 3.1 meters.
The lake bed is a thick layer of silt, which has been used since 1886 in institutions for mud cures in Yessentuki and other therapeutic mud baths in the region of Caucasian Mineral Waters. These mud baths have been used by famous individuals such as Feodor Chaliapin, Anton Chekhov, and Leo Tolstoy.
Notable events
In 1395, the warlord Timur took a bath in Tambukan Lake.
In 1709, Kabardian prince Murzarbek Tambiev defeated the Crimean-Turkish army near this lake . The word Tambukan comes from Turkic words Tambu qanı and means Tambiev’s blood or Tambiev’s asylum.
In 1717, Peter The Great sent his physician Shober on an expedition to Tambukan Lake to obtain medicinal water and mud.
The first scientific description of Tambukan Lake was by Guldenschtedt in 1773.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lake Tambukan” as lake in Russia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as lake in Russia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2350647. VIAF identifies the subject as 238813468. Authority coordinates are 43.964, 43.158. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1886, 1395, 1709 and 1717.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lake Tambukan”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lake Tambukan primary sources, Lake Tambukan archive and Lake research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lake Tambukan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.