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. Most of Siberia is drained by one of three great rivers: the Ob, the Yenisey (or Yenisei), and the Lena. The Yenisey River is the largest of Siberia's three river systems. The lower course of the river is an estuary called the Yenisey Gulf; the gulf is about 250 km (155 mi) long and up to 50 km (30 mi) wide. Upstream from the Gulf the river is navigable from June through October at least as far as the timber-exporting port of Igarka, about 675 km (420 mi) from the river's mouth. Dudinka is the only town of any size downstream from Igarka. Administratively this region is part of the Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, the second largest of the federal subjects. The district is larger than Texas but has fewer than 35,000 permanent residents, most of whom live in Dudinka. Navigation on the river is guided by a large number of range lights. In general these lights are carried on wood skeletal towers. Some of these towers are very light in design, probably so that they can be relocated as required by changes in the river channel. This page generally lists only the larger lights, those roughly 15 m (49 ft) or taller; these are more substantial and permanent structures. Many thanks are due to the late Michel Forand for his research on the lighthouses of the Russian Arctic; all of the information on this page comes from his work. Thanks also to Evgeny Gusev, a geologist in the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the Ocean, for permission to present his photos taken during geological expeditions to the lower Yenisey River in 2004 and 2005. 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. Russian lighthouses are owned by the Russian Navy and maintained by the Navy's Office of Navigation and Oceanography (Управление навигации и океанографии). Russian light list (RU) numbers are from Russian Navy Publication 2111 as reported by the Admiralty. The Admiralty is no longer listing the lights of this inland Russian waterway, but the former Admiralty numbers are from volume L of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. None of these lights appear on the ARLHS or NGA light lists. |
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![]() Muksuninskiy Range Rear Light photo copyright Evgeny Gusev; used by permission |
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![]() Selyakino (Mys Selyakin) Range Front Light ex-Panoramio photo copyright Evgeny Gusev; used by permission |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Yenisey Gulf
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Posted December 29, 2011. Checked and revised May 15, 2024. Lighthouses: 42. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.