Description of the attraction
Rock Petushok (Rock of Salvation) is a visiting card and a symbol of the Goryachy Klyuch resort. One of the most popular sights of the city is located on the Psekups River, on the western slope of Mount Abadzekhsk. The height of the rock is about 28 m. It was created under the influence of the Psekups river.
The top of the rock has six teeth that resemble a cock's comb. This is where its name came from. There are two small caves in the rock (Salvation and Zvonkaya). Between them is the steep Ladder of Life, carved out of stone. A beautiful panorama of the wooded spurs of the Pshaf ridge and the Psekups river valley opens from the cliff.
The Tsar's pavilion was erected on the top of the Petushok rock for the arrival of Prince Mikhail Nikolaevich in 1864. After part of the rock collapsed, this place was called the Tsar's platform. Those who have not heard this story call it a "lookout point."
There is a legend that explains the history of this rock in its own way. Once upon a time in ancient times on the Abadzekh mountain there was a princely palace with winter gardens, flower beds and halls that amazed with their luxury. But the most amazing decoration of the castle was the beautiful and intelligent daughter of the prince himself. Once a young man decided to woo her, whose heart was cold and callous. But the girl refused the young nobleman. Then the offended young man turned to an evil sorcerer and he turned him into a black swan. When the young princess saw this swan on the blue water of Psekups, she could not resist stroking it. And at the same hour the whole body of the princess was covered with wounds and ulcers. After that, life in the beautiful palace faded, the prince and his wife grieved very much for their daughter, day and night they prayed for her successful healing. And the gods heard their prayers and imprisoned the cruel youth in the rock. The young man's tears of repentance began to break through the stream from the mountains. When the princess washed herself with the water of one of these streams, her body was immediately cleansed of the disease. Since that time, the tears of the repentant young prince have healed the ills of all people who come to the hot springs.
