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 Oceans. To guard these coasts it operates hundreds of lighthouses, many of them historic. Lake Onega, the second-largest lake in Europe, is located south of the White Sea and northeast of St. Petersburg and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. The lake drains southwestward through the Svir River to Lake Ladoga and then to the Baltic Sea. The White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal (BBK) passes through the lake, allowing navigation at least six months of the year. In addition, the Volta-Baltic Waterway connects the southeastern end of Lake Onega to the upper Volga River, providing a connection southward all the way to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. The lake is mostly in the Republic of Karelia, although the southern shore of the lake is in the Leningrad and Vologda Oblasts. All three regions are members of the Russian Federation and all three are divided into districts (raions). Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia, is on the western shore of the lake. The local language in much of this area is Karelian, a language closely related to Finnish. The Finnish and Karelian word for a lighthouse is majakka, similar to the Russian word mayak (маяк). In Russian ostrov is an island, rif is a reef, mys is a cape, bukhta 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 the lake are presumably maintained by Rosmorrechflot, the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport. Since aids to navigation on these inland waterways are not listed on international light lists, we have little information on which lighthouses are active or, if they are active, on their light patterns. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights.
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Leningrad Oblast Lighthouses
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![]() Range Rear Light, Voznesenye, June 2013 Google Maps street view |
Vologda Oblast Lighthouses
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Republic of Karelia Lighthouses
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![]() Vasilisin Light, Pudozhsky District all-Karelia.ru photo by Victoria Butskikh |
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![]() Breakwater Light, Povonets, May 2022 Google Maps photo by Alexandr Lobanov |
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![]() Tambits Nos Light, Medvezhyegorsky District, August 2010 ex-Panoramio Creative Commons photo by Alex Kondratyev |
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![]() Ostrov Voroniy Light, Medvezhyegorsky District, August 2006 ex-Panoramio Creative Commons photo by Vladnes |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Southern White Sea | South: Lake Ladoga
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Posted May 22, 2005. Checked and revised October 1, 2024. Lighthouses: 39. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.