Peter I, as is known, visited famous European balneological resorts: Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary), Pyrmont (Bad Pyrmont) in Saxony, Spa in Belgium, and Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). At the same time, the tsar ordered the search for healing springs in Russia. At the beginning of the 18th century, several metallurgical enterprises operated in Karelia, one of which was the Konchezersky copper smelting and ironworks plant, founded in 1707. To supply the plant with labor, peasants from the neighboring Shuysky and Munozersky parishes were assigned to it, whose duty was to harvest and deliver bog ore to the plant. In 1714, Ivan Reboev (Ryaboев), a resident of the village of Vidany in Karelia, was sent to transport iron ore from the Ravda bog or Ravdasuo (from the Karelian "raudu" — iron and "suo" — bog) to the plant. He was seriously ill ("suffered many years from a heart disease"). Upon arrival, he could not work and "due to this illness barely dragged himself alive." Either by himself or on someone's advice, he began to drink water from a spring ("well") located there and drank it for three days, and "after three days he began to feel better," and he "became healthy from that." He reported everything that happened to the manager of the Konchezersky plant, the Saxon Wolf Martin Zimmermann, who informed the head of the Olonets mining plants, William Ivanovich Gennin. The discovered source of iron-rich water was located 9 versts from the Konchezersky plant.
In 1716, Gennin received permission to travel to Germany for treatment and to hire foreign specialists. At the same time, Peter I was undergoing treatment in Pyrmont. It is likely that during this trip, Gennin met with the tsar and "announced" the discovery of the spring in the bog near the Konchezersky plant. Leaving the Petrovsky plant in 1717, Gennin ordered a cast-iron plaque with the following text: "This source of healing Martial water was found for the benefit of HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY PETER THE GREAT, EMPEROR OF ALL RUSSIA, and for the general public good, through the diligence and skill of HIS MAJESTY’s most humble servant, Artillery Colonel and Commandant of Olonets, Georg Wilhelm Gennin. His birth in Nassau-Siegen, and the mentioned source was declared in the past year 1716." This plaque is now kept in the "Martial Waters" museum.
Having received news from Gennin about the healing spring found in Karelia, Peter I ordered the court doctors to study its healing properties. One of the doctors who played a significant role in creating the resort at Martial Waters was Dr. Robert Erskine (Areskin), a native of Scotland and Peter I’s personal physician. Since the tsar’s health was a great concern, Erskine showed great interest in the "Olonets waters." In October 1717, he sent his assistant Lavrenty Lavrentievich Blumentrost to study the spring, who conducted a chemical analysis of the water and, as Gennin wrote, "praised it highly." It was Blumentrost who noticed the iron content in the studied water and for this reason named it "martial" (after Mars, the god of war and iron).
To "observe the effect of this water on people," surgeon Antony Ravinel (Revenel), who had previously served in the military land hospital of the capital, was sent. In early 1718, Ravinel studied the effect of the water on residents of the Petrovsky plant suffering from various diseases and soldiers of the Olonets battalion. The treatment yielded tangible results, and the list of those healed was published under the title "Authentic Investigations on the Effect of Martial Konchezerskaya Water, examined by various people through the surgery of Ravinel in 1718, in the month of January. Printed in Saint Petersburg on February 28, 1718."
For the discovery of the spring and its arrangement, Gennin received a reward from Peter I — a portrait of the tsar in a diamond frame. Reboev was not left unrewarded either. During the tsar’s second visit to Martial Waters in March 1720, he submitted a petition to Peter I, in which he described the circumstances of the discovery of the healing spring. Upon receiving the petition, Peter I wrote the following resolution on it: "For reporting this, that the first sign of healing appeared on it, he and his household with the land they own are exempted from all labor and taxes at the copper plants. March 22, 1720. Peter."
In the Ravdasuo valley, under Gennin’s leadership, construction of the country’s first balneological resort began in January 1718. In December 1717, he visited the capital and received the necessary instructions directly from the tsar. It was decided to build a wooden royal palace near the spring. In early January 1718, Gennin informed General-Admiral Count Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin that "he laid the foundation of the palace by the well, as His Imperial Majesty commanded." By 1719, the palace had twenty small rooms and one large hall.
Buildings for the resort’s service personnel and a special linnaea — a hotel for patients — were built, and patients began arriving at the waters as early as summer 1718. Among them were the Ober-Commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress, Lieutenant General Roman Vilimovich Bruce, President of the Main Magistrate Prince Yuri Yuryevich Trubetskoy, and Count F. M. Apraksin. In November, Erskine prepared to travel for treatment but only reached the Petrovsky plant (now Petrozavodsk), where he died. The tsar persuaded Field Marshal Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, seriously ill with dropsy, to go to the spring, and he was already preparing "for the last trial," but died on November 30, 1718.
Following the first year of the resort’s operation, in March 1719, Peter I issued a decree and "Announcement about the healing waters found in Olonets, from which diseases, and how to use them, with a doctor’s prescription." The purpose of their publication was to advertise the successful effects of the martial waters and attract new patients. In March 1720, another tsarist decree was issued regarding the rules for using the martial waters.
In July–August 1719, the waters were used for treatment by His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov and 10 other people. A great admirer of the resort was Tsarina Praskovya Fyodorovna, widow of Tsar Ivan Alekseyevich. Together with her daughter Anna Ioannovna (the future empress), she visited the waters in 1719, 1721, and 1723.
According to the "Campaign Journals," Peter I visited the martial waters four times. The first trip took place from January 19 to March 3, 1719, with the tsar at the waters from January 28 to February 17 (21 days). The second trip was from February 29 to March 27, 1720, with the tsar at the waters from March 6 to 22 (17 days). The third trip began on February 6, 1722. Treatment at the waters lasted 12 days — from February 15 to 26. On February 18, Peter I attended the consecration of the church of the Apostle Peter.
The fourth and last trip began on February 16, 1724. Treatment at the waters took place from February 23 to March 15 (22 days). Peter worked for a week in the lathe workshop, where he turned a chandelier for the local church. In total, the tsar spent about 70 days at the resort. Peter was always accompanied by his wife, Catherine Alekseevna.
While staying at Martial Waters, Peter I did not cease his state activities, inviting all the necessary people to him. Thus, in February 1719, architect Domenico Trezzini was summoned to the resort; in 1722, court painter Ivan Nikitich Nikitin; and in 1724, one of the tsar’s closest associates, Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev.
After Peter I’s death, the resort was abandoned.
Its only architectural monument preserved to this day is the Church of the Apostle Peter, built in 1721. The building is made of logs, the roofs are shingle, and the domes and spires are covered with iron. The iconostasis was transported from the Church of the Apostle Peter at the Lodeynopol shipyard, and the church utensils came from the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery.
In the 18th–20th centuries, the church was repeatedly repaired and restored, but archival materials indicate that it retained its original appearance. In 1829–1831, the church, which had fallen into "complete dilapidation," was completely dismantled and rebuilt in its former form. Maintenance repairs were regularly carried out until the early 20th century (the most significant in 1832 and 1879) under the supervision of professional architects. Other buildings from the Peter the Great era were lost as early as the 18th century.
In the 18th–19th centuries, the church was visited by local officials as well as travelers through Karelia — academician N. Ya. Ozereckovsky, professor K. I. Arsenyev, exiled poet F. N. Glinka, historian N. G. Ustryalov.
In 1949, repair work was carried out; in 1952, lightning protection was installed; repairs were conducted in 1964 and 1975. In 1988, comprehensive restoration work was carried out under the direction of V. G. Kopnin. The church was dismantled, new foundations were laid, rotten sections of walls were replaced, icons were restored, and the ceilings and roofs were completely replaced.
In March 1946, in the settlement of Martial Waters, in the former house of the caretaker built in 1832, across the road from the church, the "Martial Waters" museum was opened, which in 1959 became a branch of the Karelian State Local History Museum. In 1974, it was recognized as a monument of local significance and placed under state protection.
Sources:
