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A recent trip to Russia provided a glimpse into a fascinating and historic culture and a chance to view some stately and memorable lighthouses. My traveling companion, Mary Segur, also from Michigan, had friends in Volgograd who were more than happy to take us around for some exciting visits.
VOLGOGRAD - The Volga-Don Csnal East Entrance Light. The Volga River cruise took us south of Volgograd city to the point where the Volga-Don Canal enters the river from the west. The leisurely trip took us past several industrial sites and marinas along the west bank. The Volga makes a semi-circular curve to the east around a large island and after an approximate 36 mile voyage our ship slowed and banked to the west. A peninsula on the western bank blocks the view of the canal entrance.
As our ship slowly motored up the passage between the peninsula and the mainland a gigantic statue of Lenin loomed on our left. Across from him on the tip of the peninsula was Volga-Don Canal East Entrance Light, an elegant, white concrete tower rising 85 feet from its stepped base. The tower is comprised of two square sections, both tapering in slightly as they rise. The lower section displays the prows of four symbolic ships representing Russian naval victories. Sitting atop the smaller tower section is a round colonnade which forms a chamber from which the beacon shines. A lone iron gallery caps the structure, giving it the appearance that something is missing. Being from Michigan, we both thought that this light suffered the same fate as the Poverty Island Lighthouse in northern Lake Michigan. Not so. The architects borrowed the design from early Venetian Lighthouses that also had colonnades.
Built in 1953, the Volga-Don Canal East Entrance Light is one of four nearly identical towers built a year after the completion of the 63 mile long Volga-Don Canal system. This tower is also a monument to the Volga Sailors who protected the city during the Russian Revolution in 1918-19 and during the heroic Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43. An inscription on the upper tower reminds us.
The other three similar lights are the Volgodonsk Locks Lower Entrance Light, and the Volgodonsk North and South Breakwater Lights, all located farther to the west.
SAINT PETERSBURG - The Rostral Columns and the Russian Central Navy Museum
Saint Petersburg is called the Venice of the North. Its canals take you on an awe-inspiring trip past palaces, museums, theaters, cathedrals, monuments and a fortress. We were able to take in two boat trips that took us close to lighthouses in the area.
Two iconic red granite towers grace the Neva River on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island in downtown Saint Petersburg. Built 1805 -10, the ornate towers each have a framework supporting an iron burner on its gallery. Oil was used to light the towers in the early 19th century, as they were used as beacons then. The lights no longer function as navigational aids now. Gas burners replaced the oil units and the towers are lit on special occasions now.
Attached to the sides of each tower are the bows of eight ships. In ancient times, the victor of naval engagements would bring back the bow of captured enemy vessels as trophies. The ship’s bow icon appears on numerous memorials throughout Russia.
At the base of each tower are the white marble deities representing the four rivers of Russia: Volga, Dneiper, Neva and Volkhov.
The Central Navy Museum houses a magnificent collection of Russian and Soviet Naval artifacts and displays ranging from Peter I’s original sailing vessel to scale models of the modern Russian Fleet units. Near the entrance hall we found two Fresnel beacons on display.
PETERHOF - Gulf of Finland Range Lights and the Petrodvorets (Peterhof) Light
The quickest way to visit the Peterhof Palaces located to the west of Saint Petersburg is by hydrofoil. These vessels are called “meteors” but it still takes about 40 minutes. Our meteor sliced through the Gulf of Finland like a rumbling WWII PT boat. Along the way we passed several pairs of range lights.
These are cylindrical steel towers with an attached solar powered optic. The towers are painted white and have a red vertical stripe marking the range. A grouping of piers rising from the gulf floor support the square concrete bases on which each of these towers sit. Slatted day marks are attached to several of these lights.
Peterhof - Nearing the Peterhof hydrofoil dock, the Petrodvorets West Range Rear Light came into view. The cast iron cylindrical tower was built in 1887. Skeletal steel buttresses support the sides. The cylindrical walls are faced with vertical strips of wood about five inches wide. The tower and gallery are painted white with a red vertical stripe marking the range. The hexagonal lantern room houses a small electric beacon that shines a white light 1 ½ second on and 1 ½ second off. The light has a focal plane of 33 feet. The front three (seaward) sides of the lantern room are painted red and the rear facing sides are white. A steel 10 foot high, cylindrical access room is attached to the rear.
The Front Range for this light is back on the hydrofoil pier. This diminutive beacon we called “mini-mayak” sits atop a combination 13 foot tower and observation platform at the end of the pier. The structure is painted white, with two red range stripes on the seaward side. The light has a quick-flashing white characteristic and serves double duty as the Petrodvorets West Range Front and East Range Front Lights.
KRONSTADT - Kronstadt (The City of Crown) is a city and naval base on Kotlin Island 19 miles west of Saint Petersburg. It was captured by Peter the First in 1703 from Sweden and it became the fortified harbor of the Baltic Fleet for the next two and a half centuries. Kronstadt can be reached by ferry or the recently completed St. Petersburg Dam causeway.
There are range lights here on the island, just off shore marking the harbor en-trance and in the main shipping channel called the Morskoy Kanal.
Surrounding Kotlin Island are 17 islets, each with its own little fortress. An enemy sailing vessel attempting to sneak through any of these passages would be caught in a deadly crossfire by two or more of these fortresses.
Lights on Kronstadt - Kabotazhnaya Gavan Range Rear Light stands on the west pier of the Peter the Great Canal at the naval station on the south side of the island. The square 95 foot high, tapering tower has a skeletal steel frame that is faced with wood siding. Contained in the square gallery is an octagonal lantern room which houses a quick-flashing red light. The tower and lantern room are painted white. The range side of the tower is painted red with a black vertical stripe.
The Front Range Light for this pair is located just outside the harbor breakwater on the southwest side by the Menshikov Battery. It is a 49 foot high pyramidal tower enclosed with wood siding like the Rear Range Light. The range side is painted red with a vertical black stripe. A small, exposed red beacon sits atop the structure.
Fort Kronshlot Lights - Fort Kronshlot lies south of the Kron-stadt harbor breakwater. Commissioned by Peter the First, it was completed on 7 May 1704. It actually comprises of two fortifications: Fort Kronshlot on the east and the Nikolaevskaya Battery (AKA Fort Nikolai) on the west. They are connected by two narrow breakwaters which form a small lagoon. Two conical cast iron towers form a range along the edge of the southern-most breakwater. The tall Kronstadt Range Front Light (formerly the Fort Kronshlot Light) and the shorter Fort Nikolai Range Front Light were both built in 1891 and served as a range for east bound ships.
The short, Fort Nikolai Range Front Light was built in on an islet just outside the walls of Fort Nikolai. The 52 foot high tower is painted red and is 200 yards west of the Rear Range Light. Adjacent to the west side of this tower a skeletal steel framework supports a steel tube which extends back to the lantern room. On the face of the framework are wood slats forming a daymark. This light was obsoleted in the early 1920s when the concrete Kronstadt Rear Range Light was completed at the end of Kronstadt’s military harbor 1.5 miles away.
The Kronstadt Range Front Light is an 82 foot high tower built adjacent to the breakwater at Fort Kronshlot. Its beacon produces a continuous red light to the west and a flashing white light to the east. This light was originally the Rear Range Light to its neighbor, the Fort Nikolai Range Light. The name change came about in the 1920s when the taller Kronstadt Rear Range Light was built.
In the early 1920s the concrete 177 foot tall Kronstadt Range Rear Light was constructed on the far eastern part of the military harbor. The tapering, octagonal tower is unpainted and the lantern room is painted red. The beacon shines a narrow, continuous red beam only to the west.
Just south of Kronstadt in the Gulf of Finland lies the Morskoy Kanal shipping channel, running east to west. Here there are a pair of range lights, both slim, octagonal towers built of concrete in 1914.
The shorter front range tower has the face of the range side painted black with a white vertical stripe running down the length of the tower. The tower measures 66 feet in height and houses a quick-flashing white light. The tower also has a noticeable lean.
The Rear Range Light has a height of 136 feet and the sides facing the range are painted with alternating black and white bands. The beacon shines with a long white flash every six seconds.
Kronstadt Navy Museum - There is a Russian Naval Museum in the eastern part of Kronstadt. There we found a fine collection of ship models, shipwreck dioramas, fortress models, detailed Kronstadt history and a small collection from their Lighthouse Service:
MOSCOW - Central Armed Forces Museum - In Moscow, we visited the Central Armed Forces Museum located north of the city. There are two floors packed with displays and an acre of military might outside in the rear garden. In the Naval section we found one item from the Lighthouse Service: a model of the Estonian Lighthouse at Tallinn.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 2012 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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