The Lermontov Baths are the most architecturally extravagant of Pyatigorsk's historic spa buildings, an 1880s Moorish fantasy of horseshoe arches, elaborate tilework, and decorative towers. The building was designed by the architect Eduard Chodorovsky in a style that mixed North African and Andalusian influences with the demands of a working 19th-century sanatorium.
The baths still function, dispensing the sulphurous mineral waters that have been Pyatigorsk's reason for existence since the early 19th century. You can visit as a tourist to see the exterior architecture at any time; to actually bathe requires booking a treatment in advance through one of the sanatoriums. The warm hydrogen sulphide baths have a strong (and distinctive) smell, which locals regard as a sign of their effectiveness.