Lighthouses of Russia: Lake Baikal

Russia (Россия, Rossiya in Russian) is by far the world's largest country, spanning a little over 150° in longitude. It is organized as the Russian Federation (Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) with members known as federal subjects (sub'yekty federatsii). Russia is primarily a continental nation but it has important coastlines on the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas and very long coastlines on the Arctic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean. To guard these coasts it operates hundreds of lighthouses, many of them historic.

Lake Baikal is located in southern Siberia east of the city of Irkutsk, on the border between Irkutsk Oblast and the Buryat Republic (Buryatia), two members of the Russian Federation. The crescent-shaped lake occupies a deep rift valley and is the world's deepest lake, reaching a depth of 1637 m (5370 ft). Its name, baikal, means "rich" or "abundant" in the Mongol language. Although it appears to be completely surrounded by mountains the lake drains by the Angara River, a tributary of the Yenisey River, through a narrow water gap near its southwestern end. Lake Baikal was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996.

There has been commercial navigation on the lake since the late nineteenth century and travel in the area is often by water since there are few roads. However, sources of information on the lake's lighthouses are scarce and not much is known of their history. Visitor reports and photos would be very welcome.

Much of the information on this page comes from the research of the late Michel Forand.

The Russian word for a lighthouse is mayak (маяк); ostrov is an island, poluostrov is a peninsula, mys is a cape, bukhta or guba is a bay, zaliv is a larger bay or gulf, proliv is a strait, reka is a river, and gavan' is a harbor.

Aids to navigation on Russian inland waterways are presumably maintained by Rosmorrechflot, the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport.

General Sources
Magic Baikal - Lighthouses and Hydrology
This account, in Russian, includes a list of 10 lake lighthouses in its second paragraph. The article has descriptions of the lighthouses but no photos.
Lighthouses in Russia
Photos by various photographers available from Wikimedia.
World of Lighthouses - Lake Baikal
Photos by various photographers available from Lightphotos.net.
Russische Leuchttürme auf historischen Postkarten
Historic postcard images posted by Klaus Huelse.
Lake Baikal
A map of the lake from WorldAtlas.com.


Port Baikal Light, Port Baikal, July 2023
Google Maps photo by Житель Байкала (Resident of Baikal)

Irkutsk Oblast Lighthouses
Mys Kobylya Golova (Khorin-Irgi) (2)
Date unknown. Abandoned. Approx. 10 m (33 ft) square pyramidal wood tower. Katerina Sipaeva has a view from the lake and the light is barely visible in Google's satellite view. Lightphotos.net has a historic photo of an earlier light. This light guides vessels in the narrow passage between the western shore of the lake and Ol'khon Island, a large island that parallels the lakeshore for about 80 km (50 mi). Located on an islet at the point of a very sharp cape at the western end of Ol'khon Island, opposite the town of Sarma. Accessible only by boat. Site status unknown.
Mys Krestovyy
Date unknown. Active(?). Approx. 6 m (20 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower, painted white. Aleksandr Severnyy has a photo and Bing has a satellite view. Located on a point of land on the west side of the lake southeast of Petrova. Site open, tower closed.
* Port Baikal
1900. Inactive. Approx. 6 m (20 ft) round cylindrical cast iron tower with lantern and gallery. Lighthouse originally painted white, lantern red. A 2023 photo is at the top of this page.Dmitry Zagulyaev has a 2021 closeup photo, Anna Tsirulnikova has a winter 2021 photo, Thomas Claveirole has a closeup, another photo is available, Oleg Bulatov has a 2012 closeup, Sylvain Raybaud has a closeup of the lantern, there's a nice summertime view (second photo on the page), Huelse has a historic postcard photo, and Bing has a distant satellite view. Prefabricated in England by Armstrong, Whitworth and Company. This light, the Babushkin Light, and probably the Tankhoyskiy Light were built around 1900 to guide rail ferries carrying the trains of the Trans-Siberian Railway across the lake. This ferry service ended in 1905 when the rail line was completed around the south shore of the lake. Located on a very steep hillside above Port Baikal, on the southwestern end of the lake. Site open, tower closed. Site manager: Pribaikalsky National Park.

Buryatia Lighthouses
* Tankhoyskiy
Date unknown. Inactive. Approx. 12 m (39 ft) hexagonal tower; only the iron skeleton of the tower remains. A photo is available, Simon Kruse has a closeup, and Google has an indistinct satellite view. It stands now beside the Buddhist Stupa of Perfect Victory and near the visitor center of the Lake Baikal Nature Reserve. It is believed that this light also guided rail ferries. Located in Tankhoy, on the south shore of the lake opposite Port Baikal and about 80 km (50 mi) west of Babushkin. Site open, tower closed.
* Babushkin (Mysovsk)
1900. Inactive. Approx. 9 m (30 ft) round cylindrical cast iron tower with gallery, mounted on a conical stone foundation. Lantern removed. Valery Ivanov's photo is at right, Alexey Ilinyh has a 2017 closeup photo, Ildus Shamgunov has a photo and a view from the lake, Wikimedia has a sunset photo, and Bing has a satellite view. Lightphotos.net has a historic photo from the collection of Michel Forand. Prefabricated in England by Armstrong, Whitworth and Company, this lighthouse is a sibling of the Port Baikal light. Located on a sandy point at Babushkin (formerly Mysovsk), on the southeast shore of the lake. Site open, tower closed.

Mysovsk Light, Babushkin, March 2018
ex-Google Plus photo by Valery Ivanov
* Selenga (3?)
1953. Active; focal plane about 15 m (49 ft); flashing white light. Approx. 13 m (43 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower; all sides of the tower are covered by a white slatted daymark. A photo (second photo on the page) and a second photo (3/4 the way down the page) are available and Google has a satellite view that appears to show the lighthouse in a village about1.5 km (1 mi) above the principal mouth of the Selenga River. Located on the south side of the lake about 65 km (40 mi) northeast of Babushkin. Site open, tower status unknown.
* Turka
2014. Active; focal plane about 26 m (85 ft); red light. Approx. 23 m (75 ft) cylindrical tower with lantern and double gallery. The lighthouse is dark gray with white trim and a red conical roof on the lantern. Michele Luigi Crescentini has a good photo (also seen at right), Pavel Asmanov has another photo, Kirill Kazakov has a closeup street view, and Google has an indistinct satellite view. This lighthouse was built as part of a resort development. Located on the north breakwater at a river entrance in Turka, a town on the central east coast of the lake. Site open, tower status unknown.
Dagarskiy
Date unknown. Active (?). Wood tower mounted on a "log blockhouse." No photo available. Google has a satellite view but it's not clear where the light is located. Located at the northeastern corner of the lake, on the east side of a river entrance. Site status unknown.
Dushkachanskiy
Date unknown. Active (?). No photo and no description of the tower available; Google has only a very distant satellite view of the area. A historic photo (no longer available) dated 1914 showed a square pyramidal skeletal tower perhaps 15 m (49 ft) tall. Located at Dushkachan, a town at the north end of the lake. Site status unknown.
Mys Kotel'nikovskiy
Date unknown. Inactive. Approx. 8 m (26 ft) square pyramidal wood tower, unpainted; the upper portion carries the remains of a slatted daymark. Evgeny Shulga has a photo, Alexander Zhilinsky has a photo, and another closeup photo is available, but the tower is not seen in Bing's satellite view. Located on a conspicuous sandy cape on the northwest side of the lake. Site open, tower closed.

Turka Light, Turka, August 2016
Google Maps photo by Michele Luigi Crescentini

Information available on lost lighthouses:

Notable faux lighthouses:

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Posted June 2, 2009. Checked and revised May 22, 2024. Lighthouses: 10. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.