The Kuyalnik resort is one of the oldest mud resorts, located 13 km from the center of Odessa at the foot of the Zhevakhova Mountain on the right bank of the Kuyalnitsky Estuary. According to some researchers, the name of the resort is associated with a high concentration of salt in the water of the estuary (from the Turkic "kuyanlyk" thick). It is no coincidence that in the literature of the Slavic peoples, the current Odessa estuaries were called "Salt Lakes".
Russian linguist A.I. Sobolevsky in his work “Linguistic and Archaeological Research” believes that the ancient Slavs called “boat pier, pier” this way. In the past, the Kuyalnitsky estuary, like the Khadzhibeysky, was a bay of the Black Sea. It is believed that there was an ancient settlement on the Zhevakhova mountain adjacent to Kuyalnik, and on the shore of the estuary there was one of the piers of the busy trade route of Kyiv along the rivers Ros - Southern Bug - Kodyma - Kuyalnik to the shores of Bulgaria and Greece. This route had the advantage that boats loaded with goods went to the Black Sea, bypassing the Dnieper rapids. Even today, on the banks of the estuary, numerous fragments of various dishes from the period of the 6th - 2nd centuries BC are found. These are traces of an ancient warehouse. And on the territory of the village of Kuyalnik, already in Soviet times, the remains of a settlement were discovered, the foundation of which dates back to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.
The salty waters of the estuary, “torn off” from the sea, condensed into a brine - a saturated saline solution. The peculiarity of the Odessa group of estuaries also lies in the fact that layers of silt mud lay at the bottom. It contains many different mineral particles and organic matter. Complex chemical processes and the "work" of various bacteria gave silt mud invaluable healing properties. As if in a giant laboratory, or rather, an underwater chemical-pharmaceutical plant, this mud is continuously produced at the bottom of the estuaries. Its reserves are especially large in Kuyalnik. And in terms of quality, medicinal properties, it has become a kind of world standard. Kuyalnik is one of the oldest mud resorts in Ukraine. Sulfide-silt Kuyalnik mud is recognized as a reference in terms of its healing properties. They contribute to the reduction of inflammatory processes, strengthen the immune system and restore the functions of damaged organs and body systems. Liman brine also has medicinal properties, and Kuyalnik mineral water helps with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
In 1833 the first medical institution was built. It was officially called "The Clinic of Dirty and Sandy Estuary Baths". It was one of the first resorts in Russia. Today Kuyalnik is a large association of sanatorium-and-spa institutions. A general resort mud bath and a resort polyclinic function here, where the medical and diagnostic base of the resort is concentrated; sanatoriums. IN AND. Lenin, them. ON THE. Semashko, im. N.P. Pirogov.