The Kurort System along the North-East Coast of the Black Sea

In the Soviet period the Black Sea was the holiday destination par excellence, for Russian, Ukraine, Georgian, Rumen and Bulgarian people. The Crimean peninsula, in particular, had been visited by the Russian aristocracy since the tsarist period. Following Lenin's decree on seaside resorts in Crimea (1920) - according to which villas, palaces and holiday mansions, owned by nobles, upper mi ddle class and tsars, had to be used for providing health recovery to workers - radical changes took place, concerning landscape, urban environment, facilities, infrastructures, etc. In the Soviet Union republics, several health resorts were implemented, equipped with medical services and natural health remedies, as well as leisure facilities. Within kurorts, places of vacation and treatment, Soviet workers in need of healing or relaxation had the opportunity of restoring their strength in a planned way, on the background of natural settings. Kurorts turn out to be complex systems, playing a huge socio-economic role, since their features and issues are related to health and leisure, town planning and services.