Description of the attraction
AI Roffe was a wealthy merchant, and also was the owner of the "Roffe and Sons" guild. At the end of the 19th century, he decided to build new baths on the Yalta embankment. The project was taken over by the famous architect Nikolai Krasnov, who had already designed the Great Livadia Palace. The courtyard of the "France" hotel was chosen as the site for the construction of the new building, and already in 1897 the construction was completed.
The entrance to the building of the baths was decorated with a beautiful front portal, made in the Moorish style. The facade is decorated with an inscription taken from the holy book of Muslims of the Koran "Be blessed like water", and in front of the very entrance an old magnolia has blossomed its branches. The interior design of the baths hall is based on the Moroccan style, with very beautiful plaster moldings on the walls.
The water that filled the baths of the baths was sea water. It was first heated, and then the tanks were filled. Sea water had a positive effect on the health of visitors, among whom were very famous people - Ivan Bunin, A. P. Chekhov, Fyodor Chaliapin and others. Chekhov was a regular customer of the baths, so he and the Society of Writers and Scientists headed by him received a discount from the merchant 25 percent for visiting medicinal baths.
Due to the fact that the baths were rare for a Russian inhabitant, they were very popular. It is also worth noting that they were in no way inferior in quality to their European competitors.
The battles of the Great Patriotic War destroyed the hotel "France", however, the baths themselves miraculously survived. Sofia Rotaru in 1975 redesigned the baths for the rehearsal hall of her ensemble "Chervona Ruta".
In 1984, construction began on a large concert complex "Jubilee", which was to replace the Roffe baths, which, according to the project, were to be demolished. However, Sofia Rotaru, as well as the music community, began to protest against the demolition. This is what made it possible for the baths to survive to our time.
In 1991, restoration work began on the territory of the baths, during which the hall was almost completely restored, as well as the portal of the building. It was Rotaru who invested funds to start the work and fully supervised the restoration of the architectural monument. In 1996, the baths became a local monument.
