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. The northwestern corner of Russia lies on the Barents Sea, an arm of the Arctic Ocean. The broad, eastward-pointing Kola Peninsula (Kolskiy Poluostrov) separates the Barents Sea from the nearly-enclosed White Sea, which extends southward more than 500 km (300 mi). Arkhangel'sk, located at the southeasternmost point of the White Sea, became Russia's chief port under Ivan the Terrible in the mid 1500s and there has been a lively trade between Western Europe and Arkhangel'sk through these northern waters for almost 500 years. Arkhangel'sk is the capital of of the vast Arkhangel'sk Oblast, one of the members of the Russian Federation. The approach to Arkhangel'sk is through the twisting channels of the delta of the Northern Dvina (Severnaya Dvina) River. This page lists the many range light towers along these northern waterways. Broadly speaking, the river has three main branches (distributaries) as it approaches the sea: the Nikol'skiy Branch on the west, the Murmanskiy Branch in the center, and the Korabel'nyy Branch on the east. The Korabel'nyy Branch includes the main channel for oceangoing ships. The Nikol'skiy Branch provides a shortcut between Arkhangel'sk and the naval base at Severodvinsk (lighthouses of Severodvinsk are on the Southern White Sea page). The Russian word for a lighthouse is mayak (маяк); ostrov is an island, 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. Russian lighthouses are owned by the Russian Navy and maintained by the Navy's Office of Navigation and Oceanography (Управление навигации и океанографии). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Russian light list (RU) numbers are from Russian Navy Publication 2105, as reported by the Admiralty. Admiralty numbers are from volume L of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 115. The Russian light list, Огни и знаки (Lights and Signs), is not available online. |
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![]() Vasil'yevskiy Range Front Light, March 2010 ex-Panoramio photo by Mikhail Shishov |
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![]() Ekonomskiy Range Rear Light, March 2010 ex-Panoramio photo by Igor' Aleksandrov |
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![]() Bogoslovskiy Range Common Rear Light, Port Ekonomiya, February 2009 Google Maps photo by Sergei Klepikov |
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![]() Osinovyy Range Front Light, May 2005 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Tonych; permission requested |
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![]() Nizhne Kur'yaretskiy Range Rear Light, July 2012 Google Maps street view |
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![]() Kur'yaretskiy Range Rear Light, March 2010 ex-Panoramio photo by Mikhail Shishov |
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![]() Bakaritskiy Range Rear Light, July 2012 ex-Google Maps street view |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Eastern White Sea | West: Southern White Sea
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Posted December 7, 2005. Separate page created October 28, 2011. Checked and revised March 28, 2024. Lighthouses: 47. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.