Spring No. 6

Spring No. 6 is a functioning Soviet-era thermal spa and medical rehabilitation centre in Tskaltubo's Central Park, in Georgia's Imereti region. Tskaltubo's mineral springs — over 2,000 natural sources in the area — were known as early as the 7th-9th centuries, chemically analyzed in the 20th century, and the town was officially declared a medical spa resort in 1920, later flourishing into a major Soviet destination drawing around 125,000 visitors annually before declining after the USSR's collapse. Spring No. 6 itself, built in 1950 exclusively for Joseph Stalin, is the largest thermal bathhouse still operating in Tskaltubo, with five mineral-water pools, 37 individual bathing cabins and 17 hydro-massage cabinets. The naturally soft, slightly radioactive radon-chloride-magnesium water emerges at a bathing-ready 33-35°C, requiring no artificial heating or cooling, and is used in balneotherapy for circulatory, nervous, musculoskeletal, gynaecological and skin conditions.