Lighthouses of Russia: Karelia

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.

This page lists includes lighthouses on the western coast of the White Sea in the Republic of Karelia, one of the members of the Russian Federation. Karelia borders Finland to the west and some of its residents speak Karelian, a language or dialect closely related to Finnish. It has 630 km (390 mi) of shoreline at the western end of the White Sea. Kem and Belomorsk are the most important ports on this coast. The White Sea-Baltic Canal (Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal or BBK) leads from Belomorsk through Lakes Onega and Ladoga to St. Petersburg, thus joining the White Sea and the Baltic Sea. Additional Karelian lighthouses are listed on the pages for Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga.

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.

General Sources
Online List of Lights - Russia - White Sea
Photos by various photographers posted by Alexander Trabas.
World of Lighthouses - Arctic Coast of Russia
Photos by various photographers available from Lightphotos.net.
White Sea Lighthouses in Russia
Photos by various photographers available from Wikimedia.com.
Russische Leuchttürme auf historischen Postkarten
Historic postcard images posted by Klaus Huelse.

Ostrov Nakhkonitsa Light, Kemsky District, July 2013
Lightphotos.net photo by strannic1959
Loukhsky District Lighthouses
Ostrov Asafly
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 25 m (82 ft); two white flashes every 14 s. 14 m (46 ft) square cylindrical skeletal tower, painted black. The upper third of the tower carries a slatted daymark painted red with a yellow horizontal band. No photo available but Bing has a satellite view. Located on an island of the Kem'-Ludy group, on the south side of the entrance to Kandalaksha Bay, near Karelia's northern border. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS ERU-242; RU-5495; Admiralty L6688; NGA 15732.
Mys Sharapov
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 58 m (190 ft); white flash every 14.5 s. 5 m (17 ft) round solid concrete tower on a square stone base; access to the light is by a stone stairway. The lantern is red. The small structure is barely visible in Bing's satellite view of the cape. Despite its diminutive size, this is considered a major light. Located on a prominent cape at the southern entrance to Kandalaksha Bay, about 30 km (20 mi) southeast of Ostrov Asafly. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS ERU-277; RU-5455; Admiralty L6694; NGA 15740.

Kemsky District Lighthouses
Kem (Kemi in Karelian) is a historic town, founded with the building of a fort in 1657. The population is about 11,000.

Ostrov Nakhkonitsa
Date unknown (station established 1916). Appears inactive but listed with focal plane 14 m (46 ft); white flash every 5 s. 14 m (46 ft) gray concrete tower with a red lantern. Lightphotos.net has the photo at the top of this page, Alexey Fedorovich has a 2015 photo, and Bing has a satellite view. Located on a rock marking the south side of the entrance to Kandalaksha Bay on the west side of the White Sea. RU-5370; Admiralty L6706; NGA 15748.
Ostrov Samba-Luda (Sambaluda)
1913. Active; focal plane 12 m (39 ft); white flash every 3 s. 8 m (26 ft) square pyramidal solid concrete tower with gallery. Access to the light is by an external ladder. A 2004 photo is available and Bing has a satellite view. Located on a small island about 15 km (9 mi) southeast of the Nakhonitsa lighthouse. RU-5360; Admiralty L6712; NGA 15752.
#Rombakskiy (Ostrov Yuzhniy Rombak)
1910. Destroyed by fire sometime in 2014-15. This was a 9 m (30 ft) square cylindrical wood tower with lantern and gallery, rising from the front of a 1-story wood keeper's house. House painted bright yellow with a red roof and red trim; the lantern dome painted white. A 2008 view from the sea is at right and Lightphotos.net has a closeup photo. Huelse has a historic postcard photo. In 2005 the keeper and his wife were found dead, apparently as a murder-suicide. The lighthouse was restored in 2007 or 2008. It was destaffed in 2011 and burned sometime during the winter of 2014-15. Lightphotos.net has Yuri Matseevskii's photo of the ruins and Bing has a satellite view. Located on an island about 20 km (13 mi) east of Kem; the lighthouse should be visible from ferries between Kem' and Solovetskiy Island (next entry). Accessible only by boat. Site and tower closed. ARLHS ERU-149; RU-5170; Admiralty L6730; NGA 15760.

Rombakskiy Light (now lost), Kem', August 2008
ex-Panoramio photo by Dm!try_S;
Ostrov Malyy Rombak Range Rear
Date unknown. Active (?); focal plane 16 m (52 ft); white flash every 2.5 s. 9 m (30 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower, listed with a daymark colored white with a black vertical stripe. The range lights appear abandoned in Alexander Shevelev's 2011 view from the sea. Bing has an indistinct satellite view. Located on an island about 1 km (0.6 mi) south of the Rombak lighthouse. Accessible only by boat. Site status unknown. Admiralty L6736.1; NGA 15768.
Pyalludskiy Range No. 2 Rear
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 17 m (56 ft); white flash every 3 s. 16 m (52 ft) square wood skeletal tower carrying a daymark painted white with a red vertical stripe. No photo available but shadows of both the rear (right) and front lights are seen in Bing's satellite view. The range guides vessels departing Kem. The front light is on a similar tower 9 m (30 ft) tall. Located on an island in the approach to Kem. Accessible only by boat. Site status unknown. Admiralty L6740.1; NGA 15784.
Topy
1916. Active (?); focal plane 23 m (75 ft); flash every 3 s, white or red depending on direction. 20 m (66 ft) concrete (?) tower with lantern and gallery. Lighthouse painted black and the lantern red. This light appears to be in good condition but with no solar panels in evidence it is probably not active. Alexander Gubanov's 2021 street view is at right, a 2014 photo is available, Lightphotos.net has a photo by Oleg Shvets, and Bing has a satellite view. The lighthouse marks a small group of dangerous rocky islands in the middle of the passage between Solovetskiy Island and the western shore of Onega Bay. Located about 15 km (9 mi) west of Solovetskiy. Accessible only by boat. Site and tower closed. ARLHS ERU-281; RU-4485; Admiralty L6784; NGA 15832.
Ostrov Rovnyazhiy
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 22 m (72 ft); flash every 2 s, white or red depending on direction. 7 m (23 ft) square wood skeletal tower covered with a slatted daymark. Light lists say the daymark is yellow but it appeared white in a photo (no longer online). Bing has an indistinct satellite view. Located on a tiny island in Onega Bay halfway between the Toby and Zhuzhmuyskiy lighthouses. Accessible only by boat. Site and tower closed. ARLHS ERU-167; RU-5135; Admiralty L6800; NGA 15836.

Topy Light, White Sea, Julne 2021
Google Maps photo by Alexander Gubanov

Belomorsky District Lighthouses
Located on the west side of Onega Bay, Belomorsk is a port built in the 1930s at the northern end of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Its name means "White Sea" in Russian. The population is about 10,000.

Ostrov Bol'shoy Zhuzhmuy
1871. Active; focal plane 59 m (194 ft); four long (3 s) white flashes every 30 s. 26 m (85 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower with central cylinder, lantern and gallery. Lighthouse painted red, lantern roof green. Several keeper's houses and other station buildings. Petr Vorobyov's photo is at right, Lightphotos.net has Yuri Matseevskii's photo, and Bing has a satellite view of the station. This lighthouse was prefabricated in France by Barbier, Bénard & Turenne. Huelse has a historic postcard photo. The lighthouse was originally installed at the eastern tip of Ostrov Bolshoy Zhuzhmuysky, but sometime before 1920 it was relocated westward to a higher location on the island. Located at the highest point of Ostrov Bol'shoy Zhuzhmuysky, the larger of the Zhuzhmuy Islands about 35 km (22 mi) south of Solovetskiy and a similar distance east of Belomorsk. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS ERU-133; RU-5090; Admiralty L6804; NGA 15844.
Ostrov Malyy Zhuzhmuy
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 44 m (144 ft); white flash every 3 s. 12 m (39 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower with a slatted daymark painted with black and white horizontal bands. No photo available but Bing has a fuzzy satellite view. Located at the southeast end of Malyy Zhuzhmuy, a smaller island southeast of Bol'shoy Zhuzhmuy. Accessible only by boat. Site status unknown. Admiralty L6806; NGA 15848.
Belomorsk Range Front
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 20 m (66 ft); continuous red light. 9 m (30 ft) square metal tower carrying a slatted daymark painted red with a white vertical stripe. No photo available but Bing has an indistinct satellite view. Located north of the wharves of Belomorsk. Site status unknown. Admiralty L6816; NGA 15852.
Belomorsk Range Rear
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 30 m (98 ft); continuous red light. 13 m (43 ft) square wood tower carrying a slatted daymark painted red with a white vertical stripe. No photo available but Google has a satellite view. Located in a warehouse area on the east side of the main railroad yard on the north side of Belomorsk. Site status unknown. Admiralty L6816.1; NGA 15856.
Ostrov Osinka
Date unknown. Active (?); focal plane 18 m (59 ft); white flash every 5 s. 10 m (33 ft) square pyramidal wood skeletal tower. No photo available and Bing has a satellite view. Located on a small island at the southern end of Onega Bay, about 25 km (15 mi) east of Belomorsk. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS ERU-078; RU-5000; Admiralty L6832; NGA 15872.

Zhuzhmuysky (Ostrov Bolshoy) Light, Onega Bay, July 2012
ex-Panoramio photo by Petr Vorobyov
Ostrov Salma-Luda
Date unknown. Active (?); focal plane 16 m (52 ft); green flash every 5 s. 9 m (30 ft) "pyramid," form unknown. No photo available and Bing has only a fuzzy satellite view. Located on a small island at the southern end of Onega Bay, about 25 km (15 mi) east of Ostrov Osinka. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. RU-4980; Admiralty L6836; NGA 15888.
Ostrov Tit-Luda
Date unknown. Active (?); focal plane 14 m (46 ft); white flash every 4 s. 11 m (36 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower painted white. Oleg Timofeev has the 2012 closeup photo at right and Bing has a satellite view. Located on a small island at the southern end of Onega Bay, about 15 km (9 mi) southeast of Ostrov Salma-Luda. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. RU-4955; Admiralty L6838; NGA 15880.
Ostrov Perkhluda
Date unknown. Active (?); focal plane 11 m (36 ft); white flash every 3 s. 7 m (23 ft) square pyramidal wood skeletal tower. The tower is enclosed by a slatted daymark that is supposed to be painted white with a black vertical stripe. No photo available but Bing has a distant satellite view. Located at the eastern tip of Perkhluda, an island in the southern end of Onega Bay. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. RU-4945; Admiralty L6840; NGA 15884.

Information available on lost lighthouses:


ZOstrov Tit-Luda Light, Onega Bay, July 2012
Google Maps photo by Oleg Timofeev

Adjoining pages: North: Northern Kola Peninsula | South: Southern White Sea

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Posted December 7, 2005. Checked and revised May 22, 2025. Lighthouses: 17. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.