  The Faddeev-Volkov model is an Ising-type lattice model with positive
Boltzmann weights where the spin variables take continuous values on the real
line. It serves as a lattice analog of the sinh-Gordon and Liouville models and
intimately connected with the modular double of the quantum group U_q(sl_2).
The free energy of the model is exactly calculated in the thermodynamic limit.
In the quasi-classical limit c->infinity the model describes quantum
fluctuations of discrete conformal transformations connected with the
Thurston's discrete analogue of the Riemann mappings theorem. In the
strongly-coupled limit c->1 the model turns into a discrete version of the D=2
Zamolodchikov's ``fishing-net'' model.
