Gelendzhik Range Lighthouse

The Gelendzhik Range Lighthouse stands on the northern shore of Gelendzhik Bay in the town of Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai. A white four-sided stone tower 13 meters tall adjoins a two-story house built for the lighthouse keepers and their families in the Art Nouveau style - combining living quarters and a signal tower in one building was common for lighthouse service at the end of the 19th century. The lighthouse carries a light-optical apparatus whose beam is visible at sea up to nine nautical miles, and a sector display of three signal lights - green in the center and red on both sides - helps ships enter the bay precisely.

Three kilometers from the Range Lighthouse, on the other side of the bay, stands a separate Gelendzhik Lighthouse. The two are different objects, worth telling apart when searching or reading a map, even though both help ships find their way to Gelendzhik.

History

The lighthouse began operating on August 19, 1897. The building was designed by the French architect Francois Joseph de Tondet, and construction of the tower was completed in 1906. In 1927 the lighthouse underwent a major overhaul: the kerosene lamp was replaced with an electric one, sparing the keepers from having to refuel and light it by hand every evening.

Legends and accounts

According to an account preserved in local historical writing, in 1942, during the retreat of Soviet troops, the lighthouse keeper Sokolov P. T. refused an order to blow up the structure so that it could keep working afterward. That is how the lighthouse survived the war and went on guiding ships into the bay.

The lighthouse today

The lighthouse is still an active navigation aid under the Russian Ministry of Defense, so its grounds are closed to visitors and the building can only be seen from outside the fence. It is listed as a cultural heritage site of regional significance. In 2011 a sculpture called "The Old Lighthouse Keeper" by Dmitry Rynden was installed nearby, becoming a small landmark of its own.

Getting there

The lighthouse stands near Mayachnaya Street on the northern edge of Gelendzhik, by Gelendzhik Bay. Take a bus to the "Sosnovaya Roshcha" stop on Lunacharskogo Street - buses No. 17, 103, 199, 646 and minibuses No. 18, 20, 21, 22, 31 and 40 go there. From the stop it is about 300 meters on foot along Mayachnaya Street to the lighthouse.