Its height above sea level is 353 m (1,158 ft), in a relatively flat intermountain area 160 km northwest of the city of Abakan.

The southern and western shores feature beaches popular for local recreation (the bottom is sandy), and spas that take advantage of the mineral water.

[2] Lake Shira is located in the northwestern part of Khakassia on the right side of Bely Iyus river, north of a high hilly ridge running from the peaks of Uibat to the banks of the Yenisei, in a shallow intermountain depression in the North Minusinsk basin (Chulym-Yenisei basin)[4] 340 km to the south - west of Krasnoyarsk, 160 km northwest of Abakan, 15 km east along the road from Shira railway station in the village of the same name Shira, the center of the district.

The bottom of the lake rises in ledges to gently sloping sandy shores, forming comfortable beaches.

The peculiarity of the geological origin and specific climatic conditions predetermined a special scientific and educational interest in this territory.

The results of many years of modern research on the territory of the Lake Shira site in the Khakassia Nature Reserve were carried out and summarized by a team of authors in published scientific materials.

[7] Lake Shira is drainless and, as a result, accumulates pollutants that enter it with surface runoff, with flushing from adjacent territories, as well as those brought by the river flowing into it and atmospheric precipitation.

[7] Comprehensive studies on the territory of the Lake Shira site commissioned by the Khakassia Nature Reserve showed that organic pollution of the waters of Lake Shira is a typical picture characteristic of areas with a moderate anthropogenic load and reflects the state of the zone actively used for recreational purposes.

In the memoirs of Martyanov N.N., it is mentioned that the Tatars saw the ruins of houses and walls at the bottom of the Shira Lake.

The composition of lake water is slightly alkaline, sulfate-chloride, sodium-potassium, with a high content of magnesium.

[7] For the first time, the bitter-salty Lake Shira was described by Academician Peter Simon Pallas as early as the 18th century, when he traveled around Siberia.

Since the end of the 19th century, the study of the chemical composition of the local mineral lakes of the entire Shira basin was carried out by doctor Sergey Elpatyevsky (1886),[10] professors Müller, E.A.

[9] On the recommendation of the Military Medical Inspector of the Siberian Military District, Privy Councilor E. P. Kazan, research was conducted by N. S. Kastorsky (1907),[9] D. P. Turbaba (1904),[2] doctor R. K. Pikok (1876, 1889),[8] chemist and geologist professor Zalesky S.[8] Scientific research determined the healing properties of the mineral water[12] of Lake Shira.

[15] In 1892, Vasily Ivanovich Surikov made a large number of studies and sketches in the summer in the vicinity of Lake Shira.

[15] In 1895, a Shelter for Poor Patients was opened on Lake Shira with funds raised in part by holding musical evenings.

Poor patients received, from the shelter, lighting, table, bed, baths, medicines and even koumis and massage.

There was not a single tree around the lake, which gave the whole area a particularly dull look.In 1897-1998, on the initiative of the committee of the shelter for the poor, the first bathroom building was opened, available to everyone for a fee (35 kopecks).

In the ulus, there are private houses, Tatar yurts, shops, a small church, a hotel, a kitchen and other buildings.

[21] For a long time, there was no house on this pier to wait for the steamer, and visitors to the resort went out and carried their luggage ashore under the open sky.

Mineral mud - soft, greasy, black in color, with a strong smell of hydrogen sulfide, was brought in barrels to Lake Shira and sold for treatment at 10 kopecks per bucket.

[6] Some patients who have strong, healthy skin enhanced the effect of bathing in the lake by preliminary rubbing with Shira clay, the whole body or only sore spots.

M. V. Krasnozhenova from the Krasnoyarsk Society of Dramatic Art Lovers was the initiator of staging children's performances when she herself was relaxing on the lake.

[26] The sanatorium for teachers on Lake Shira arose on the initiative of V. T. Zimin, who donated 600 rubles for the construction.

For ordinary drinking, cooking, samovars, it was completely unsuitable, since it tastes bitter-salty and leaves a white precipitate during evaporation.

Water for drinking and washing was delivered from wells, which were located 1.5 versts from the lake, by the Tatars Torinovs on horseback in barrels, 70 kopecks - 1 ruble per person per season.

In the morning and in the evening, cookies and milk were given to the samovar, at noon - meat pies, curd cheesecakes or pancakes.

The predominant type of buildings on Lake Shira were yurts and booths, in which workers and small merchants lived.

[32][33] The inhabitants of booths, workers, did not use the table from the common kitchen, but cooked their own food on small stoves - chuvals arranged nearby.

Instead, pod- a stone slab- was laid, which was also furnished with slabs from the sides and back in such a way that several holes were formed - the rear one for the exit of smoke.

The artist's granddaughter Natalia Konchalovskaïa writes:[15] The Surikovs did not communicate with the resort public, there was no reason for them to be treated.