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, southeastward-pointing Kola Peninsula (Kolskiy Poluostrov) separates the Barents Sea from the nearly-enclosed White Sea, which extends southward more than 500 km (300 mi). The entire Kola Peninsula is governed as part of Murmansk Oblast (province), one of the 85 federal subjects. This page lists the lighthouses of the Kolsky and Lovozersky Districts of the oblast, including the northern (Barents Sea) and eastern (White Sea Throat) coasts of the peninsula. 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. Admiralty numbers are from volume L of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. Russian light list (RU) numbers are from Russian Navy Publication 2103 for the Barents Sea and 2105 for the White Sea, as reported by the Admiralty. U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 115. The Russian light list, Огни и знаки (Lights and Signs), is not available online.
|
Kolsky District Lighthouses
|
Kil'din Island East Light, 2005 photo copyright EDM, courtesy of Yarman Yan |
|
|
Lovozersky District and Ostrovnoy Lighthouses
|
|
|
Mys Bol'shoy Gorodetskiy Light, White Sea Throat, October 2013 Lightphotos.net photo from Polar Post |
|
Tersko-Orlovskiy Light, White Sea Throat, August 2010 LiveJournal photo copyright Jim Monchegorsk; permission requested |
|
Ostrov Sosnovets Light, Sosnovka, 2006 photo copyright EDM Manufacturing Company, Severomorsk |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Eastern White Sea | South: Northern White Sea | West: Murmansk Area
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 7, 2005. Checked and revised March 5, 2024. Lighthouses: 39. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.