On the territory of the Maksim Gorkiy settlement, at the source of the Tsaritsa river there is Taran’s spring well known for its healing properties. Before the revolution of 1917, the landowner of the settlement was Nikolai Taranov. Later the settlement was named after Maxim Gorkiy and now is popularly known as Maksimka.

After the dispossession in 1930, Nikolai Taranov, called by the locals “old Taran”, settled down near the spring and took care for it his whole life.

After the death of Nikolai Taranov, his grandson Nikolai Taranov, the Director of Arts Education Institute, Professor of Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University, has continued to take care of the spring. The story of his famous grandfather inspired him to develop the territory of the spring and to build an Old Russian style stone masonry. Here, you can also see a small sculpture of old Taran. Today, the path to the spring goes through a small bridge; there is a bathhouse and a small chapel near the spring. Visitors can enjoy this picturesque place and have a rest on comfortable benches in the cool shadow of willows, poplars, pear and apple trees.

However, Taran’s spring is famous not only for its beauty. The locals have always believed that anyone who drinks water from the source becomes a long-liver. Indeed, many of those who were drinking the healing water lived up to 100 years and more. Nikolai Taranov reached the age of 102. Anyway, experts proved that the water in the spring has healing properties.