Museum of lighthouse service in St. Petersburg

To begin with, I would like to say about our expectations. We expected something like stories about some famous lighthouses in Russia and not only about their arrangement. The second version was that the tour would be more devoted to caretakers of lighthouses and their everyday life. But in fact the excursion is devoted to the history of the development of lighthouse mechanisms.

The tour began at the stand with large-scale models of some of the Russian (mostly St. Petersburg) lighthouses.

Each of the lighthouses has a sign with basic information, as well as QR codes with links to information about them.

What most liked it was that the models also flicker in frequency with their prototypes.

The tour begins with the history of construction of lighthouses in Russia, which, very predictably, began with the decree of Peter the Great. Also, you will find out briefly about the first lighthouses of the world, including the first signal fires that were bred on the shores of trading cities.

There is also a model of a signal buoy, which is also assigned not a small place in the excursion and in the whole museum. I, for example, did not know before that there are special buoys performing the same roles as lighthouses.

The very first thing you will be acquainted with is the "heart of the lighthouse", that is, with the light sources on the lighthouses. Firewood, whale oil, kerosene, gas and electricity - what, why, by what logic.

You will be able to see the signal lights, which are equipped with the ships themselves, thanks to which you can determine at which course the ship is moving in front of you.

For connoisseurs special interest can be represented by the sextant and the star globe - a lot in this museum you can learn about the general navigation in the seas and oceans.
I really liked this exhibit - the pendulum clock, which helps to set the glow and regulate the release of gas in gas burners.

It always seemed that the beacons have large rooms for light sources, but this is not always the case.

With the discovery of electricity and the incandescent lamp, the work of the lighthouses and the lives of their caretakers was greatly facilitated. The next part is devoted to the work of batteries, their service life and various inventions, which, in case of lamp burnout (which often happens with incandescent lamps), are able to replace it with another.

The most unexpected thing is that even here such a small light bulb, with the correct arrangement of a beacon, can shine for a distance of more than 8 kilometers.

So you will get acquainted with modern (and not only) versions of portable military lighthouses. This is one of the most fascinating and interesting parts of the excursion, therefore, in order not to tell the superfluous and keep you intrigued, I will add only that here, for example, there is a lighthouse that can be thrown into the helicopter ranchers from the N-th number of meters and quietly used further on purpose.

I would also like to note that this is one of the youngest museums in St. Petersburg. The official opening was only on July 1, 2017. The number of exhibits is growing almost day by day. It is very touching - more than a third of the exhibits presented were donated and sent by volunteers. They also have been restored by them. As it turned out, there are a lot of lovers of lighthouse business)
The guide-director gladly gave 10 more minutes, answering a lot of our questions directly about life at the lighthouse: how much they pay and whether they pay at all, what is required from the lighthouse keepers and much more. If you visit - do not hesitate to ask!

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