Staraya Pustyn — a settlement on the right bank of the Seresha River, beside the chain of Pustynskie Lakes, in the urban district of the city of Arzamas, Nizhny Novgorod Region[1][2]. The Arzamassky District, to which the settlement formerly belonged, was merged with the urban district in 2022[3]. The nature reserve named after Staraya Pustyn, which protected the lakes, has since 2024 been the Pustynsky sector of the V. A. Lebedev Nizhnegorodskoe Povolzhye National Park[4][5]. The settlement itself is home to a tuberculosis sanatorium, a biological research station of Lobachevsky University, and a radio astronomy observatory[6][7][8].

The Lakes and Karst

Eight karst lakes — Velikoye, Svyato, Glubokoye, Kruglenkoye, Parovoye, Dolgoye, Narbus, and Karasyovo — form a single interconnected system covering approximately 300 hectares and reaching depths of up to 14 metres[1]. They are in effect inlets of the Seryozha River that have flooded karst sinkholes: limestone and gypsum lie close to the surface here, making the area rich in funnels and collapses[9].

The youngest of the lakes is Svyato: sinkholes are still forming on its shores today, and the lake has no outlet — spring floodwater drains away through the funnels[9]. Since 1962, the Pustynskie Lakes have served as the main source of drinking water for Arzamas, supplied via a 36-kilometre pipeline[9].

Dry karst fissures have also been preserved along the shores. The most famous of these is the "Wishing Crevice," a genuine small canyon where visitors leave written notes[9].

The lakes are home to nearly a third of all fish species found in Nizhny Novgorod Region — 17 out of 55. The Eurasian beaver, otter, and Russian desman inhabit both the water and the banks, and no fewer than seven bat species have been recorded. Among rare plants are orchids, the lady's slipper orchid, and the red helleborine, as well as the water chestnut chilim — an interglacial relict that grows in openings among the reeds at a depth of about one metre. In total, 180 species listed in the Red Data Book of Nizhny Novgorod Region have been recorded in the area, 21 of which are also included in the Red Data Book of Russia[1].

The Nature Reserve and National Park

The Pustynsky nature reserve was established in the 1930s as a hunting reserve covering 6,200 hectares; the karst lake system and the adjoining forests — benchmark stands of mixed coniferous-broadleaved woodland — were placed under protection[10][5]. A decree of the Nizhny Novgorod Region government dated 16 September 2013, No. 651, reorganised the protected areas and issued a new charter for the reserve[11].

In 2014 the developer of a cottage settlement succeeded in having this decree overturned by the regional court, but the Administrative Cases Panel of the Supreme Court of Russia issued a new ruling and denied the claim in full: the ban on development within the reserve was upheld[11].

On 28 March 2024, the V. A. Lebedev Nizhnegorodskoe Povolzhye National Park was established across five sites in the region, with a total area of 65,800 hectares[4]. The Pustynsky sector covers 13,344 hectares, of which 6,482 fall within the Arzamassky District and 6,862 within the Sosnovskiy District[1].

The sector is open to visitors by permit. An eco-trail called "Zapovednaya Pustyn" has been laid out; camping spots have been equipped at Lakes Shirokoye and Kirkideyevo, and gazebos with barbecue grills have been set up on the shore of Glubokoye. The road from Nizhny Novgorod follows the R-158 highway with a turn-off at the village of Volchikha — approximately 124 kilometres[1].

The Sanatorium

The sanatorium opened in 1903. It was established by Nikolai Alekseyevich Gratsianov, a Nizhny Novgorod physician born in the village of Vyezdnoye, who in the early 1900s was known as an advocate of advanced tuberculosis treatments; initially, it was a convalescence facility for girls from poor families[6].

The site was chosen for its pine forests, sandy soils, abundance of lakes, and clean air — a combination deemed suitable for treating pulmonary disease[6]. In 2013 the sanatorium marked its 110th anniversary[6].

Today it is a state-funded public healthcare institution of Nizhny Novgorod Region, subordinate to the regional Ministry of Health, and continues to specialise in tuberculosis[2].

The Biological Research Station

By decree No. 277 of the secretariat of the Gorky Kray Executive Committee, dated 2 December 1933, the university was allocated 187 hectares in the Arzamassky timber industry enterprise for permanent use as a biological research station[7]. The project was led by Professor A. D. Nekrasov of the zoology department, who modelled it on the Naples Biological Station, where he had worked for a period[7]. The station began operating in 1934 as a base for scientific research and fieldwork training for junior undergraduates[12].

The biological station stands on the shore of Lake Velikoye and comprises wooden residential buildings, laboratory and ancillary facilities, and a small boat station. Botanical, zoological, hydrobiological, and population-biocoenological research is conducted here year-round, and summer field placements are held for biology and ecology students[7].

The Radio Astronomy Observatory

The Staraya Pustyn testing ground was founded in 1964 by the Radiophysical Research Institute (NIRFI), which is now part of Lobachevsky University[8]. The observatory has seven fully steerable radio telescopes and two 25-metre towers equipped with dual-temperature noise-emission standards[8].

Three 14-metre radio telescopes operate as a polarisation aperture synthesis system at 150 MHz with a synthesised aperture of up to 150 metres; two 7-metre telescopes form an interferometer with a baseline of 417 metres; two 10-metre telescopes are dedicated to the linear polarisation of Galactic radio emission and the total electron content of the ionosphere. One of the instruments forms part of both the Russian and international low-frequency very long baseline interferometry networks[8].

In 1994 the complex, known as "Pustyn" and registered under number 06-29, was included in the list of unique installations in Russia requiring state support[8]. Data on the linear polarisation of Galactic radio emission in the metre waveband have been obtained here, and measurements at frequencies of around 200 MHz and below remain the only ones in the world. Observations of supernova remnants — Cassiopeia A and the Crab Nebula — have been conducted since the installation's earliest years, totalling more than half a century[8].

Surroundings

The settlement's nearest neighbours are the selo (a larger village) of Pustyn and the village of Menshchikovo[1]. The selo of Pustyn, situated by the Seryozha River and the lakes, appears in the list of populated places of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate based on data from 1864: 43 households, 188 men, 246 women, and one Orthodox church[13].

Sources

  1. kerzhenskiy.ru — Nizhnegorodskoe Povolzhye National Park — Pustynsky sector: location, lakes, flora and fauna, visiting information
  2. rusprofile.ru — State-funded public healthcare institution of Nizhny Novgorod Region "Staraya Pustyn Sanatorium": Unified State Register of Legal Entities data
  3. Vremya N — All municipal districts of Nizhny Novgorod Region to be reorganised as urban districts, 28 April 2022
  4. kerzhenskiy.ru — Nizhnegorodskoe Povolzhye National Park — V. A. Lebedev National Park: year of establishment, area, composition of sectors
  5. dengoroda-nn.ru — Den goroda. Nizhny Novgorod — Pustynsky Nature Reserve: a protected territory
  6. nnews.nnov.ru — Old, old Pustyn, 20 November 2013
  7. ibbm.multisite.unn.ru — Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky University — Staraya Pustyn Biological Station
  8. nirfi.unn.ru — Scientific Research Radiophysical Institute — Staraya Pustyn testing ground
  9. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Komsomolskaya Pravda — Unexplored places of the Nizhny Novgorod region: Pustynskie Lakes, 3 November 2022
  10. bibl.nngasu.ru — NNGASU Library — Pustynsky Nature Reserve
  11. V gorode N — Supreme Court bans construction of cottage settlement on the territory of the Pustynsky Nature Reserve, 14 July 2014
  12. museum.unn.ru — Lobachevsky University Museum — Episode 7. The Faculty of Biology, 1920s–1940s
  13. nashipredki.com — NashiPredki — The selo of Pustyn on the Seryozha River and the lakes: extract from the list of populated places of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate based on data from 1864