Gulliver's Island (Zheleznovodsk)

Gulliver's Island is a small miniature park on an island in the Resort Lake of Zheleznovodsk, Stavropol Krai. It holds scale models of the Pyatigorye mountains that surround the spa town, along with small copies of Zheleznovodsk's best-known buildings. An openwork footbridge links the island to the shore, and entry is free.

History

The islet used to be nameless and unremarkable. It was transformed during the reconstruction of the lake and its embankment, which added the so-called Floating Embankment, a viewing platform over the water and the miniature display on the island. The project is linked to the regional tourism development programme of the early 2020s.

The models were made by students of youth innovation centres from Zheleznovodsk and other towns of Stavropol Krai. The display has grown step by step, and in 2024 local media reported plans to bring the island to life with 3D projection: three projectors would turn the mountains into a screen with moving cars and people, and even summer snow.

The mountains

The core of the display is six models of the laccolith mountains of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, each roughly as tall as a person, covered in artificial grass and lit in the evening:

• Zheleznaya (about 850 m), which gave the town its name;
• Beshtau (about 1,400 m), the highest peak of Pyatigorye, its name usually translated from Turkic as "five mountains";
• Mashuk (about 990 m), with the TV tower on top, as on the real mountain above Pyatigorsk;
• Razvalka (about 930 m), a rocky ridge north of Zheleznovodsk;
• Zmeyka (about 990 m), the mountain near Mineralnye Vody;
• Medovaya (about 720 m), a small rock outcrop on the edge of Zheleznovodsk; visitors say its model is the least like the original.

Climbing the models is not allowed: they are not built to take weight.

Mini Zheleznovodsk

At the foot of the Zheleznaya model stands a "mini Zheleznovodsk" of resort buildings: the Pushkin Gallery, the Lermontov spring pump room, the Slavyanovsky and Smirnovsky springs and the Zheleznovodsk sanatorium. Lit up after dark, the sanatorium model casts a pretty pattern of light and shadow.

Getting there and good to know

The island is in the Resort Lake of Zheleznovodsk, reached along the embankment and then over the footbridge. Zheleznovodsk is easy to reach from Pyatigorsk by minibus or local train, and from Mineralnye Vody by minibus or taxi from the station or the airport.

Evening is the best time, when the mountains and buildings are lit. Around the lake there are benches, a café and toilets, and in summer you can hire pedal boats and rowing boats. Swimming in the lake is officially prohibited.